I just saw a Civil War picture of a hot air balloon. Were they used for observation purposes, or did they actually use them offensively?
Hmm I had to think about that for a minute. That is a tricky question. I think they were just used for observation, because most of the war was fought with brutal gun to gun/hand to hand combat. Fancy thangs(for the southerners) like hot air balloons would have been shot down with the quickness.
Yeah I doubt they were used for war because hot air balloons are just simply unsuited for war as they'd get shot down within seconds. They may have been just used for observational purposes or sending out signals over large distances.
I've heard of them but not seen a picture. Yeah, I think observation/communication only. They had telegraphs in them, I think. They were tethered and were just raised and lowered as needed, I believe. Now, I want to see a picture from that era. I'm heading to the search engine to find one!
