Fitz John's Folly: An Accident of the Most Thrilling Nature

[Music] one april morning in 1862 brigadier general fitz john porter commander of the first division of the third corps of the union army of the potomac arose early intent on recon ordering the confederate positions around yorktown virginia but things that day didn't go quite as planned there's a lot of reasons to talk about history sometimes history is poignant sometimes history is humorous history can add context to current events but sometimes a historical story is just a ripping yarn one of those stories of truth stranger than fiction there were a lot of new technologies tested during the us civil war among them some of the first attempts at the use of military air power but new technologies don't always work quite as you'd expect it is history that deserves to be remembered fitz john porter was born in new hampshire in 1822 the son of a naval captain his family was known for its naval service among his cousins were william d porter david dixon porter and david farragut all of whom would become flag officers in the navy but fitz john took a different path choosing the army graduating from west point in 1845. he saw distinguished service in the war with mexico being brevitted a captain for bravery in the battle of molina del rey and being wounded at chapultepec he taught cavalry and artillery at west point served as general albert sidney johnston's adjutant during the ill-conceived 1857-1858 mormon war at the outbreak of the civil war porter was quickly promoted to colonel of the 15th u.s infantry and then by may brigadier general of volunteers in may of 1862 he commanded a division of the union army of the potomac under the command of major general george b mcclelland the peninsula campaign represented a union operation to invade virginia intent on capturing the confederate capital of richmond the peninsula campaign was the first major offensive of the war in the east and to some estimates offered the possibility of a quick resolution to the war the campaign was a notable example of mcclellan's legendary timidity largely presented as an opportunity lost as he overestimated the confederate forces facing him after confronting confederate siege works along the warwick river defensive works whose strength was exaggerated by the deception tactics of confederate general john magruder mcclellan chose to besiege the confederate works near yorktown virginia the location where george washington had won the decisive battle of the american revolution in 1781 porter was placed in charge of the siege operations in building the union defensive works among porter's assets were observation balloons the union army balloon corps was organized in october of 1861 under the direction of thaddeus s c lowe one of the nation's most accomplished aeronauts and balloon builders after what can only be called an adventure at the battle of first bull run in july 1861 in which lowe's balloon landed behind enemy lines and he had to be extricated with the help of his wife lincoln ordered the creation of a balloon core with low as chief aeronaut the union army balloon corps despite the name was a civilian organization those balloons were specifically constructed for the army would be filled with hydrogen which would be created with generators via a water gas process that low himself had developed however the generators were not ready at the time of the peninsula campaign instead lowe's new balloon called the eagle was filled with coke gas a fuel made from coal that was piped to towns this precursor to natural gas while an effective lifting gas was not easily created on location as the hydrogen generators would allow both however offered a distinct disadvantage for balloons both were highly combustible balloons for military use would certainly draw enemy fire a distinct problem not just because holes punched through the envelope would cause a balloon to lose pressure but because any spark could cause the gas to combust a result that at minimum would be faithful to the balloon while those balloons offered an effective observation platform they had a logical limit they had to be used far enough away from the enemy to avoid enemy fire the forested area of virginia was not the best terrain for launching balloons but nonetheless general porter was quite impressed and took to taking morning balloon observations to the point that he reportedly became adept at controlling the balloons and would go up himself without escort these were however tethered balloon ascents the balloon would stay affixed to the ground via cables keeping it in a safe location from which to spy the confederate siege works artillery placements and troop movements the balloon altitude was controlled by a system of ballasts and valves that allowed the operator to release gas to make the balloon descend one april morning the general rose early and at approximately 5 a.m hopped into the basket of the balloon and as the civilian and telegraph of cumberland maryland reported went on a balloon reconnaissance of a scale of rather larger magnitude than was intended while the balloon was usually held by several tethers held by multiple tenders this morning the huron county news of harbor beach michigan noted there was only one and a place in this says was afterwards ascertained had been burned by vitriol used in generating gas the civilian and telegraph recorded what happened next as told to a reporter by the general's own lips a sudden bound in the balloon told him that the rope had given way the hearing county news explains the rope was led out to nearly its full length the length is about 900 yards when suddenly snap with the cord and up went the balloon this the telegraph notes was an unexpected part of the program the men looked up with astonishment and the general looked down with equal bewilderment the simple answer would have been to release the valve and make the balloon descend and in fact the huron county news notes that soldiers on the ground were yelling at him to do just that the problem however was that the balloon rose with great rapidity its huge form lessened as it widely mounted up to the regions of the upper air became a mere speck in the sky the general's description quoted in the telegraph said that as he looked for the valve he saw that the wind had taken him over the rebel entrenchments the huron county news noted that by this time every staff officer and hundreds of others were looking at the moving spec and every moment becoming less visible the paper continued it is impossible to describe the anxiety felt and expressed for the fate of him the news having eventually made it to the way across the pond the lester chronicle of lester england reported the officer was considered to be inevitably lost the telegraph quoted the general quipping that he was sensible of being flighty noting that the general loves upon as much as the next one but the general said seeing that the balloon had traveled over the enemy entrenchments and having no wish to drop in among them he decided to let the valve take care of itself and proceeded to take advantage of his position to note the aspect of the rebel objects below thus a federal brigade commander was calmly committing to memory the rebel entrenchments even as his staff had given him up for lost but the problem was getting worse as the rebels had by then become aware of his predicament the general noted that crowds of soldiers rushed from the woods and he heard their shouts distinctly but despite hanging from a bag of explosive gas the general said that he was not afraid on this score boone had risen so rapidly that it was out of range of most muskets of the era still he might have been overly optimistic while a rifle at the time was generally accurate to about 400 yards that was shooting at a man-sized target and the general's balloon was much larger than a man moreover some rifles and good marksmen could be accurate much further as well's artillery which while generally not built to shoot at the sky had plenty of range for the general's balloon gently wafting above in fact the website of the american battlefield trust notes that rebels made it a ritual to shoot at lowe's balloon low noted the enemy opened upon it with their heavy siege guns or rifled field pieces until it attained an altitude to be out of reach and repeated this fire when the balloon descended until it was concealed by the woods but realistically artillery in the civil war wasn't built to shoot at moving targets in the air despite what the leicester chronicle called an accident of the most thrilling nature the general is never really threatened by confederate fire rather the hope was having drifted over confederate lines that he would have no choice eventually but to descend and be captured the general said that the map of the country was distinctly discernible you saw yorktown in its works york river and its windings in norfolk and its smoking chimneys but then the lester chronicle notes the hearts that were wrong with the hardness and stringents of his fate were suddenly cheered as well as amazed with the return of the balloon over our own camps the general simply said that a counter current of air struck the balloon and its course shifted the improbable untethered balloon that had taken a union general folding over confederate lines then decided to take him back the general said its retreat from rebeldom was rapid over his own lines now the general released the valve the civilian and telegraph wrote soon it began to descend but with a rapidity that aroused new apprehension the general said it was with a rapidity that he would not care to have repeated the paper goes on quickly a squad of cavalry led by captain lock and lieutenant mcquade of the general staff plunged spurs to their horses and dashed away in the direction of the descending balloon but the adventure was not quite over the general told the reporter the car struck the top of a shelter tent under which luckily no one happened to be at the time knocking the tent into pie and left the general enveloped in a mass of collapsed oil silk still the lester chronicle concluded he came down to earth by the run entirely unharmed and the huron county news finished he crawled out and found himself in the middle of a camp not 100 rods from general mcclellan's headquarters it isn't clear how important the intelligence he gained in his reconnaissance was as the news wrote what he saw was for military use and not for publication the story of a union major general haplessly floating over confederate lines in a rogue balloon only to have the wind shift or return him to his own camp as almost farcical given the gravity of the war that was being fought but was perhaps most surprising is how widely it was reported around the country even in confederate newspapers even internationally maybe it's just because it is a ripping yarn or i guess in this case a ripped tether or maybe it's because the people in grim times were looking for distraction it's unlikely the intelligence gained ended up being militarily significant as the siege never turned into a battle in may knowing that mcclellan was preparing a devastating artillery bombardment confederate general joseph johnston unexpectedly withdrew his troops in their line and retreated towards richmond johnston was eventually replaced by the more aggressive robert e lee who in the seven days battles held mcclellan's army of the potomac out of richmond and the early victory that they had hoped balloons were used in the civil war by both sides and arguably had some impact in certain situations and some battles but it appears that the time of military aviation hadn't yet come not quite proving their worth the union balloon core was dissolved in 1863. as for fitz john porter the event that became known as fitz john's folly was not by any means his low point in the war despite being recognized as an able commander a court martial later found him responsible for the union defeat in the battle of second bull run in august of 1862. the court martial was political and a commission in 1879 determined that its conclusion was unjust but fitz johns porter's military career was ruined the way he was treated you think that he maybe would have wished that the wind had never shifted that morning in april i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of gotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music] you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 152,258

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, civil war, virginia, fitz-John Porter, balloons

Id: xbgHRdM-MXg

Length: 11min 59sec (719 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 29 2021