His parents were named Clovis and Alpha Green Lowe. Only people with such idiosyncratic and anomalous names could name their child Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe. Consequently, his friends called him Thad (Sims). Born August 20, 1832 in Coos County, New Hampshire, Thaddeus Lowe was a prolific inventor and scientific visionary (Sims). In the tomes of U.S. patent history, he is credited with a number of important inventions, including the commercial ice-machine (Ferm). His most important contribution was his work in aerial military reconnaissance. An avid balloonist, Lowe transformed ballooning from a prissy innovation into a weapon of warfare.
[...] Using seven balloons three small and four large Lowe and his corps telegraphed vital information to Union Army leaders, who would pinpoint enemy positions and bombard them with grapeshot, shells and cannon balls. George Stoneman, a general of the Union Army, offered his “appreciation of the valuable services . in the use of your portable balloons. I have been up in them often and never made an ascent without coming down much better informed in regard to everything in my vicinity than I could possibly have been by any other means” (Stoneman). [...]
[...] He continued to work until his death on January (Sims). Thaddeus Lowe was the instigator of aerial military reconnaissance in America. Without his pioneering work, the technical and sophisticated equipment and planes now used in the military may have never been. While aerial reconnaissance has made huge technological strides since Lowe's silk balloons and bags of anchoring sand, Lowe's legacy continues to live on. The innovating passion and scientific wizardry possessed by Lowe is the same drive that builds B-2 stealth [...]
[...] Upon returning to the Union after a local professor and mayor vouched for his scientific professionalism and political neutrality, Lowe agreed to Chase's request and formed the Union Army Balloon Corps (Sims). The Union Army Balloon Corps was the first aerial military reconnaissance unit of its kind in history. While few and limited efforts had been made previously to use aerostats in warfare, nothing had ever come close to the systematic and effective process used by Lowe to direct Union attacks. [...]
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