Blanchard’s efforts were finally thwarted by an epidemic of yellow fever that gripped the city and the surrounding area. Government and business both came to a halt. People were unwilling to gather even in small groups. Blanchard sailed to Charleston, S.C., in the fall of 1795, where his efforts to exhibit his balloon and Curious Carriage did not arouse much interest. He moved to Boston after a few months, and although his arrival sparked serious interest in ballooning there, his personal fortune still did not improve. In fact, he was sued for $370 by Dr. Jeffries, a native of Boston and his colleague on the famous cross-Channel flight. Jeffries won the suit, and Blanchard moved to New York in 1796.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Aviation History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

The French aeronaut once again tried to get financial backing for another flight. He was offered a home and all expenses if he would allow Gardiner Baker, one of New York’s pioneer showmen, to handle his business affairs. Baker tried to get subscriptions amounting to $3,000 but to no avail. A “balloon house” was built, in which to construct a new balloon, but it was destroyed by a severe windstorm. Blanchard’s 16-year-old son, who had been working on the roof, was killed.

Blanchard, still undeterred from his quest for solvency, went back into business with small-scale animal balloons. Once again, his efforts to interest the public in ballooning were for naught, so he returned to France in May 1797.

He made his 46th ascent the following August at Rouen, followed by 13 more ascensions in Europe. Before his 60th flight, however, he had a heart attack from which he never recovered. Blanchard died on March 7, 1809, at the age of 56.

Blanchard’s second wife–Marie-Madeleine-Sophie Armant, who was 18 years old when the two married in 1798–carried on the Blanchard family name in ballooning and became the best-known woman aeronaut in Europe. However, Madame Blanchard also had the dubious honor of being the first woman balloonist to die in an aerial accident. When her balloon caught fire during a pyrotechnic night flight on July 6, 1819, she fell out of the basket, struck a roof and fell to her death in the street.

It has been more than two centuries since Blanchard’s historic first flight in the United States. Despite his lack of success in making a business out of ballooning, he, more than anyone in the first generation of aeronauts to perform in the new nation, focused public attention on this first method of manned flight. He could not have known the destiny of the new nation he visited. Nor did he foresee the scientific achievements in aerial transportation that would follow his epic voyage into the untried skies of America. He could be sure of only one thing: He was first!

Blanchard’s Passport

The “passport” given to Jean Pierre Blanchard by President George Washington, dated January 9, 1793, read: “To All Whom These Presents Shall Come: The bearer hereof, Mr. Blanchard a citizen of France, proposing to ascend in a balloon from the city of Philadelphia, at 10 o’clock, a.m. this day, to pass in such place as circumstances may render most convenient, these are therefore to recommend to all citizens of the United States, and others, that in his passage, descent, return or journeying elsewhere, they oppose no hindrance or molestation to the said Mr. Blanchard; and, that on the contrary, they receive and aid him with that humanity and good will which may render honour to their country, and justice to an individual so distinguished by his efforts to establish and advance an art, in order to make it useful to mankind in general.” C.V.G.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to