Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1875 — Balloon Reconnoisance. [ARTICLE]

Balloon Reconnoisance.

In his history of the civil war in America the Count de Paris relates the following anecdotih, “ While the two hostile armies observed each other between Arlington and Fairfax Court-House a balloon was sent up every evening to reconnoiter the surrounding country. It was the only means of getting sight of the enemy. As soon as we rose above the primeval trees which surrounded the former residence of Gen. Lee the view extended over an undulating country, covered with- trees, dotted here and there by little clearings, and bordered on the west by the long range of the Blue Ridge, which recalls the first lines of the Jura. Thanks to the brilliant light which illumines the last of an autumn day in America, the observer could distinguish the slightest details of the country, which appeared below us like a map in relief. But in vain does the eye se6k the apparent signs of war. Peace and tranquillity seem to reign everywhere. The greatest attention is necessary to discover the recent clearings, at the edge of which a line of reddish earth marks the new fortifications. However, as the day declines we see to the south little bluish lines of smoke, rising gently above the trees. They multiply by groups and form a vast semicircle. It is the Confederates cooking their supper. You may almost count the roll of their army, for every smoke betrays the kettle of a half-section. Further off the steam of a locomotive flying toward the mountain traces, by a line drawn through the forest, the railroad which brings the enemy their provisions. At the same moment the strain of military music is heard below the balloon. All the clearings where we sought in vain to discover the Federal camp are filled by a throng coming out of the woods that surround them. This throng arranges itself and forms in battalions. The mgsic passes in front of the ranks with that peculiar march which the English call the ‘ goose step.’ Each battalion has two flags, one with the national colors, and the other with its number and the arms of its State. These flags are dipped, the officers salute, the Colonel takes command and a moment after all the soldiers disperse; for it is not an alarm nor a prelude of a march forward which has brought them thus together, but the regular evening parade.”