Civil War balloons weren't just a novelty - they were a case study in problem solving. Twitter: https://twitter.com/philedwardsinc Instagram: https://instagram.com/philedwardsinc Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/philedwardsinc Thaddeus Lowe and his Civil War balloons seem like an oddity, but they served a real purpose and changed the shape of reconnaissance during the Civil War. But I was curious - how did these things actually work? Here's some links: This was the big, epic, fantastic ballooning book I read. You can read it at archive.org for free (with an account). https://archive.org/details/militaryballooni00hayd This is the battlefield I checked out. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/videos/federal-ballooning-operations-gaines-mill Here's the Navy balloon history film I pulled clips from. I actually got a bit jealous at what a good job they did covering the weird methods of Thaddeus Lowe: https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfBalloons