Customer Reviews

Military Ballooning during the Early Civil War

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I have read an original copy of F. Stansbury Hayden's work, and while it was probably the seminal work for its time, circa 1941, it was only one volume of a two volume work that was never completed. Hayden is also not the most organized writer and his style is also not very well in keeping with contemporary standards.

I recently read and wrote a review of a recently published book called War of the Aeronauts by Evans. Comparatively, Evans write a complete history of ballooning in the Civil War and writes his book compellingly. I would really recommend that most readers would find War of the Aeronauts a more satisfying and well told story compared to this book.

The worst thing about this book is that Haydon never wrote volume two. As Crouch notes in the introduction, Haydon conceived Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War as a two volume work and there are occasional parenthetical/footnote references to engagements that were to be covered in that volume.

That being said, the book is fascinating, even if it only covers through 1862. Starting with a brief history of ballooning and its adoption by various military leaders during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, Hayden outlines the skepticism of U.S. generals during the Seminole Wars and the Mexican War and how they delayed the adoption of military balloons. Moving into the bulk of the book, Hayden builds on these earlier hesitancies to show how slow Union generals were to form a balloon corps and the difficulties Lowe, LaMountain and others faced in getting the army understand the value and difficulties of using balloons on the battlefield.

A great joy in the book are the extensive footnotes. Only a handful of pages lack them and Haydon uses the notes to provide additional information, context, and recollections, as well as sources. Haydon's love of detail is not constrained to the notes, however; he gives exacting details about the cost, materials, and staffing of the balloon corps, based upon archival records and receipts. It is a wonderful look at a little-known aspect of the Civil War and a good study of how reluctant military leaders could be to adopt/understand new technologies.

It's an incomplete work. The book apparently ends before the end of the balloons work during the Civil War. I read Evans's War of the Aeronauts and it's by far a superior book and a good read. This book is long detail, short on flare, and as already stated, incomplete. Pass, pass, pass...