Professor Lowe Flies High in Falls Church, Virginia

Two weeks ago I wrote about Professor Thaddeus Lowe and the advent of aerial reconnaissance in the U.S.  On Saturday, the City of Falls Church sponsored a program commemorating Lowe's June 24-25, 1861 flights near Falls Church.   After his National Mall demonstration  had secured President Lincoln's support for employing balloons with the army, Lowe finally got a positive response from previously reluctant army officers. In late June 1861, he was ordered to bring his balloon across the Potomac, so that it could be used to determine Confederate force dispositions in Northern Virginia.

A sketch of Lowe's June 1861 balloon operations near Falls Church.