Other than Lowe, the last balloonist making a bid to head up the Army balloon corps was John La Mountain. From his home in Troy, La Mountain had written to Federal officials seeking the post. His efforts at first were ignored, but he later received a letter from Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler offering him employment as a balloonist if his services proved to be of value. La Mountain arrived at Butler’s headquarters at Fort Monroe in late June 1861. The New Yorker criticized Lowe’s use of the telegraph and claimed he had a method of conveying intelligence from above. La Mountain also was critical of Lowe’s method of observing from a tethered balloon, instead advocating free flights over enemy positions.

La Mountain’s proposed system required that Union forces be located to the east of Confederates. While such a situation existed in the summer and fall of 1861, it was not likely to remain that way throughout the course of the war. Other limitations were a lack of communication with those on the ground and the necessity of ascending to high elevations to catch the air currents blowing east, which would make it difficult to determine where the original takeoff position was so that a landing close to it could be made.

By the fall of 1861, Lowe was firmly established as the head of aeronautical activities, with authority to construct additional balloons and portable hydrogen gas generators. With the new balloons on hand, La Mountain entered the picture once more. He had been flying his own gasbags, Atlantic and Saratoga, and both were suffering from age and use. In November, Saratoga was lost in a high wind and was never recovered. La Mountain coveted the new balloons. In December 1861 he requested that he be allowed to use one of them, alleging that Lowe was hoarding the craft. La Mountain’s attempt to gain use of one of the balloons was unsuccessful, but in February 1862 he tried again, claiming that two of the new balloons were sitting idle.

Lowe responded to his superiors that the two balloons in question were not idle. He went on to unleash a salvo at La Mountain: ‘A man who is known to be unscrupulous, and prompted by jealousy or some other motive, has assailed me without cause through the press and otherwise for several years… .He has tampered with my men, tending to a demoralization of them, and in short, has stopped at nothing to injure me.’ Major General George B. McClellan, the Union commander, had made previous attempts to get Lowe and La Mountain to cooperate with each other. By now he had had his fill of the bickering balloonists, and on February 19 he issued an order dismissing La Mountain from the service.

By the winter of 1861-62, Lowe had recruited a team of aeronauts for the corps. Among them were William Paulin (who had flown with Lowe prior to the war), John B. Starkweather, Ebenezer Mason and Ebenezer Seaver. Lowe also managed to sign on James Allen, along with Allen’s brother Ezra, Philadelphia lawyer and balloonist Jacob Freno, and balloonist John Steiner. Lowe hired his father, Clovis Lowe, as an assistant.

Thaddeus Lowe’s salary was $10 a day. Steiner, Seaver and Starkweather, who were sent to locations far removed from the Washington area, received $5.75. Allen, who functioned as an assistant to Lowe, was paid $4.75, while Ezra Allen, Mason, Paulin, Freno and Clovis Lowe each received $3.75.

Lowe now faced problems with members of his own corps. Paulin attempted to keep up his career as an ambrotypist in addition to his ballooning, and Lowe found it necessary to dismiss him in January 1862. In the spring, Mason and Seaver refused to fly because they had not been paid, and Lowe dismissed them. Their transgressions were mild in comparison to Freno’s. After several months of service in 1862, the Philadelphia lawyer-turned-balloonist was dismissed for being absent without leave, making disloyal statements, running a gambling operation and having a demoralizing effect on his subordinates.

John Steiner, who was a German immigrant, had been sent west to Illinois and became a victim of indifference from the commander there, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck. Demonstrating an unfortunate fracturing of the English language, he wrote to Lowe: ‘I can not git eny assistance here. They say they know nothing about my balloon business… they even laugh ad me. Let me hear from you as soon as possible and give me a paper from Headquarters to show these blockheads hoo I am.’ The indifference was coupled with a failure to pay Steiner, who wrote again to Lowe: ‘I am here like a dog wisout a tail and I dond know ware I will be abel to draw my pay, for no one seams to know eny thing abought this thing. I am treed wis contempt and if I had the means to return to Washington I would strait today… now that I can git no pay out here.’ Steiner later returned to Washington and the Army of the Potomac, where his efforts were better appreciated.

Lowe’s corps enjoyed its greatest success with the Army of the Potomac. The corps’ primary objective was to observe and report on enemy activity. Other duties included warning of surprise moves by Confederate forces and reporting on the accuracy of artillery fire so that it could be corrected.

To prepare for an ascension, the balloons were sheltered from surface winds and attached to mooring cables that were worked through pulleys attached to fixed objects such as trees. When the aeronaut was in the basket and ready to go up, he would signal the ground crew, which would then slowly pay out the cables until the balloonist signaled them to stop. After the aeronaut finished making his observations, he once again signaled the crew members to pull the balloon back down to the ground.

While aloft, either the aeronaut or a military observer with him would note the number of the enemy or estimate it by the number of tents present in a given area. In the case of night ascensions, the number of fires observed might serve the same purpose. Even clouds of dust could have meaning. A dust cloud moving slowly along a road might indicate marching infantry, while a fast-moving cloud signaled the rapid movement of cavalry. With the aid of a telescope, balloonists could see 30 miles on a clear day.

The need to tow a balloon, which had proved disastrous for Allen and Wise, was lessened by portable hydrogen generators designed by Lowe, 12 of which were ordered along with new balloons for the corps. The generators were designed to fit on an army wagon and consisted of a large tank containing shelves for iron filings. A funnel on top allowed the crew to add sulfuric acid to the tank. The hydrogen that resulted from the mixture was fed through a hose to a cooler before it was pumped into the balloon.

Some towing of balloons was still necessary, however, and the corps came up with a different way to transport them. The balloon boat George Washington Parke Custis was built by refitting an existing coal barge. The entire hull was covered with a flat deck for inflating and launching balloons, with one of Lowe’s portable generators also aboard. A tug towed the boat to various locations.

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