Enterprise (balloon)

The "Enterprise" was a gas inflated aerostat built by Prof. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe along with his father Clovis in 1858. It was the second balloon built by Lowe at his Hoboken, N.J. facility and duly named with the express approval of his wife Leontine due to the amount of money and time they put into creating it. The "Enterprise" was built of the finest India silk, fine lightwieght cording, and Lowe's patent (recipe kept secret) varnish which would keep the balloon envelope gassed up for up to two weeks.

Cincinnati to South Carolina

The "Enterprise" would become one in a set of smaller balloons taken to Cincinnati in March 1861 for use as a pre-flight test for a proposed transatlantic flight that would have taken place in June 1861. Lowe had already made a successful test flight in his super-gigantic balloon, the "City of New York" (renamed "Great Western"), in June 1860. His attempts to take off on a transatlantic trip in September were thwarted by weather which damaged the balloon to an extent it would have to be overhauled for the next late Spring. Prof. Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institution advised Lowe to take another test flight from a point west back to the eastern seaboard. This would maintain the interest in his investors. Thus the trip to Cincinnati.

Lowe is officially recognized as the discoverer of the Jet Stream, the high wind in the upper atmosphere that always blows to the east. It was his intent to wait for perfect conditions, that is, a wind blowing west through which he would fly and catch the easterly wind home. It was a month before the conditions came about. Lowe was hailed from a dinner being held in his honor to begin inflation. At 4 a.m. on April 19, 1861, Lowe boarded the "Enterprise" with a container of hot coffee wrapped in a blanket, another of water, and a batch of freshly printed Cincinnati newspapers which would be proof of his flight should he succeed.

Lowe ascended through the west wind and into the dark. By morning he was spotted over Kentucky. He had attained altitudes in excess of 20,000 feet according to his instrumentation, and had flown some 900 circuitous miles to a landing in Unionville, South Carolina. There he was taken under house arrest as a Yankee spy, and it was a few days deliberating his fate until which time a local college professor could vouch for Lowe's work as a scientist. Lowe was given safe passage back to Cincinnati to pick up his balloons. It was at this point that he realized he would have to offer his services to the Union Army in this time of emergency.

Washington, D.C. to Bull Run

Lowe was called to Washington, D.C. by the Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase. By June 11 Lowe had an audience with Lincoln and offered a demonstration of his balloon. With the use of a telegraph key and operator, Lowe ascended in the "Enterprise" 500 feet over the White House and transmitted:

:"Balloon Enterprise in the Air":"To His Excellency, Abraham Lincoln":"President of the United States"

:"Dear Sir:"

:"From this point of observation we command an extent of our country nearly fifty miles in diameter. I have the pleasure of sending you this first telegram ever dispatched from an aerial station, and acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the service of the country.

:"I am, Your Excellency's obedient servant,":"T.S.C. Lowe"

Lowe was held up in Washington for a time while decisions on the use of balloons were being made. At the same time, there were other applicants seeking the position of Chief Aeronaut. Lowe tried to convince the military that special duty balloons would need to be built for military purposes and that even his own "Enterprise" was not up to the task. So as not to shrug from his purpose at hand, Lowe took the "Enterprise" out with General McDowell's army to the site of the Battle of First Bull Run.

In his first free flight demonstration, Lowe's landing was rebuffed by Union soldiers who could not make out any type of military insignia for Lowe and his balloon — as he had none — and was forced to land behind enemy lines. Fortunately he was rescued before the enemy could find him. In this escapade the "Enterprise" was badly damaged, but Lowe was finally given orders to build a proper balloon.

Eventually the "Enterprise" was put back into light service with Lowe's father, Clovis, and assistant Capt. John Dickenson (Navy retired) in Washington, D.C. After Lowe was able to build seven proper military balloons, the "Enterprise" was decommissioned.

References

*Block, Eugene B., "Above the Civil War", Howell-North Book, Berkeley, Ca., 1966. Library of Congress CC# 66-15640
*Hoehling, Mary, "Thaddeus Lowe, America's One-Man Air Corps", Julian Messner, Inc., New York, N. Y., 1958. Library of Congress CC# 58-7260