Special Edition: The Gazelle Takes Flight (June 24, 1862)
On June 24, 1862, the Confederate balloon named Gazelle made its first ascent along the York River Railroad outside of Richmond, Virginia. The balloon was made from bolts of mismatched silk fabric imported from Europe, and was inflated at the Richmond Gas Works. Transported to the battlefield by train, the balloon held 7,500 cubic feet of hydrogen (also known as city gas) and was half the size of the smallest Union balloon. With room for only one observer, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, the Chief of Ordnance for the Army of Northern Virginia, was assigned the job. The multi-colored patchwork of fabric was often mistakenly called, “the Silk Dress Balloon.” The bolts of silk were hand cut, sewn together by machine, and coated with varnish. The Gazelle could only stay inflated for a day or two, and without a portable generator, it had to be returned to the Gas Works to be re-inflated. (Union Balloons could stay inflated for a week at a time and make multiple ascents.) Colonel Alexander made his first successful observations of enemy troop movement during the battle of Gaines Mill.
The Gazelle was the brainchild of General Thomas Drayton, the commander in Savannah, Georgia. He enlisted Charles Cevor, a well-known aeronaut, and Landgon Cheves Jr., a member of an aristocratic family from South Carolina. (In 1861, Cevor had offered the services of his balloon Forest City, but the offer wasn’t accepted.) At his own expense, Cheves “superintended the [balloon’s] construction at the Chatham Armory in Savannah, and they both received captain’s commissions for their work. After the Gazelle was lost, Cheves financed and built another balloon called Nimbus in Charleston. However, before it was operational, he was “solicited” by John Pemberton, the commander in Charleston, to “oversee the choosing of the location, the engineering and construction of Battery Wagner.” Cheves Jr. was present when Union forces attacked Battery Wagner in July 1863, and killed instantly “from the first shell hurled from an attacking Union Monitor.”
The Gazelle was not the first balloon used by the Confederate Army. Earlier in 1862, Captain John Randolph Bryan, a young aide-de-camp on John B. Magruder’s staff, was sent aloft in a Montgolfière-style hot air balloon made of cotton. His balloon was launched over Yorktown, Virginia, and he was able to sketch a map of the Union positions. Unfortunately, “it was not in the air more than five minutes when it suddenly descended much faster than it rose.” In all, ‘Balloon Bryan’ made three ascensions at Lee Hall, Wynnes Mill, and Yorktown to observe the Federal siege preparations. ‘Balloon Bryan’ served out the remainder of the war as a clerk and assistant-quartermaster in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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