<text id=00he0107><title>"Yesterday There Was a Balloon in the Air All Day"</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>"Yesterday There Was a Balloon in the Air All Day"</hdr><body>
<p>A Richmond, Virginia, newspaper for 26 May 1862, carried the latest battle report on its front page: "The enemy are fast making their appearance on the banks of the Chickahominy. Yesterday there was a balloon in the air all day. They evidently discovered something of importance for at 4 a.m. this morning brisk cannonading was heard at Mechanicsville and the Yankees now occupy that place."
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<p>A major engagement was in the making between the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, and Thaddeus Lowe and the balloonists were ready. McClellan's army was split by the Chickahominy river, normally mild-mannered, but now approaching flood stages because of the recent heavy rains. A few units under Brigadier General Samuel P. Heintzelman had crossed, but the main body of the force was waiting at Mechanicsville for reinforcements to arrive from Washington, where they had been posted to defend the capital.
