An Uplifting History

     For thousands of years man looked upon the great birds of flight and envied their freedom of the air. Since birds could escape the limitations and confinements of the earthbound, man endeavored to reach the skies. Man is, however, an excellent innovator of death, and with the development of large balloons in 1780s France, the new technology was put to use, almost immediately, on the battlefield.
     The American Civil War in the 1860s strove to expand these innovations to their full potential. President Lincoln organized the Union Army Balloon Corps, originally, for cartography and, later, reconnaissance. Officers quickly realized the potential of air-borne craft and developed a system for balloon pilots to communicate with artillery to hit targets not visible to them. This long-distance precision aiming revolutionized the capacities of the balloon, the cannon, and the battlefield. A balloon on a barge in the Potomac River oversaw formation movements and is considered, by the United States military, the first aircraft carrier. The benefits were determined not to justify the cost of maintenance and equipment and the time transport and filling of the balloons took.
     By the 1880s, a hundred years after the original discovery, the British established a permanent balloon segment of the Royal Engineers which saw involvement in African colonization and the Boer Wars. World War I saw increased use and development of balloons for all purposes since balloon activity proved extremely useful for the static battlefield of the Western Front.

     Zeppelins, mobile balloon airships, were used by the Germans for bombing raids on London, Paris, and several smaller cities. The slow movement of these airships left them open targets once planes could be sent to attack; by the spring of 1915 the German fleet only had four airships remaining.
     World War I was the heyday for balloon warfare because of the stagnant nature of the conflict and the only recent development of airplanes. The late 1920s and and 30s saw gas-filled airships at the height of use and popularity. Trans-Atlantic travel was possible, and German Zeppelins carried passengers around Europe. The dangers of large volumes of flammable gas and the numerous crashes and explosions eventually lost the travel market to airplanes which were faster and safer. The Zeppelin airship company refunded all travel tickets in 1940.
     World War II saw some usage of balloons but as secondary weapons. The British hung long steel cables from balloons to crash low-flying aircraft during bombing raids ("blimps") and some balloons were used in reconnaissance but much reduced from World War I due to the increased capabilities of airplanes.
     One of the most effective offensive uses of balloons was the Japanese fire balloons (fu-go) during the later part of World War II. Over three-hundred balloons reached the American mainland drifting over three-thousand miles of ocean. Several balloons made it more than seven-thousand miles. Six deaths resulted in a single incident. The U.S. military ordered a press blackout to prevent the Japanese hearing of the success fearing that future balloons could carry biological weapons. The press blackout worked, and in April 1945 the Japanese cancelled the fire balloon strategy because of high cost and no known success.

     

     In current times balloons are used to monitor weather at high altitudes, and the U.S. still uses balloons for observation purposes in some of its many military involvements.

     The history of balloons reveals the innovative capacities for technology from maps to spies to travel bombers to bomb hindrance. Balloons played an important role in the development of modern warfare and the world. By enabling artillery to attack what was non visible, battle strategies changed. They made heroes, bombed cities, changed travel, and still impact the world today. Balloons are still up, useful, and rock the world, It will be a great loss to the history of the modern world if the impact of the balloon finally deflates completely and the balloon market bursts.

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Agatha Tyche

Battle of Chalmette

     The War of 1812 is often overlooked by America because of its inconclusive outcome with no arrangements altering the political or geographical landscape in 1815. In Britain the war is seen only as a minor conflict stimulated by the Napoleonic Wars. The conclusion of the war left the British largely apathetic except to American trade, especially cotton - an issue before and after the fighting. The War of 1812, nonetheless, acted as America's second revolutionary war by solidifying the nation's identity, strengthened patriotism, and dominated federal politics for decades, but the legacy of the war itself is amplified by the events of the last major battle of the war in the defense of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi.
     From 1812-1814 the British conflict with France's powerful army prevented further extension of the British navy into American wars. These circumstances allowed America to have a free hand to maneuver in North America without retaliation by the British, but a disorganized rabble-invasion of Canada through Vermont and New York failed to instigate Canadian revolution against their British overlords.
     Although America declared war against the British for the practice of impressment and the ridiculous trade requirements for American ships, much of the country, especially the more populous, trade-dependent New England region did not look forward to war. Indeed, the declaration of war barely passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was said was America would surely lose a war it did not wish to fight.

"Many nations have gone to war in pure gaiety of heart, but perhaps the United States were the first to force themselves into a war they dreaded, in the hope that the war itself might create the spirit they lacked."
~Henry Adams

     By 1814 the British were able to turn the force of their might against the former colonies. Beginning the assault in August by combining the experience of their army and the indomitable skill of their navy, Britain quickly captured Washington D.C., the fledgling capitol city of the United States, before continuing along the Chesapeake Bay to attack Baltimore, easily one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the new country. A barraged Fort McHenry stood strong through a lengthy assault before forcing the British back and inspired one Francis Scott Key, a young lawyer from Maryland, to pen "The Star Spangled Banner" which became America's anthem. Another prong of the British offensive attempted to cut the Northern states from the Southern states along Great Lakes, but the British navy was spectacularly defeated by a stalwart, unconquerable Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie in the fall of 1814. The final major British offensive front sought control of the trade along the Mississippi River, but General Andrew Jackson successfully stopped the significantly larger British force with skill, courageous troops, and the swampy landscape.
     It is Jackson's defense that has become one of the most memorable points of the war. With a British force at least three times his own and a large naval fleet accompanying the invaders, Jackson's occupation of New Orleans seemed hopeless, tenuous at best. To keep order in the city while the British drew near, marshal law kept the city in artificial calm.
     Up until Christmas, there was little antagonistic interaction between the two sides which bespoke the Treaty of Ghent signed on Christmas Eve to end the hostilities. Because of the months it took to send word of peace, neither side new the end had come and, thus, proceeded with preparation for the upcoming battle.
     The British mistakes were many, but mainly that their commanders mistook their advantage of time, for it was time Jackson used to choose his position and prepare substantial defenses.
     On the morning of January 8, 1815, the British moved against the American force. With a thick morning fog arising from the swampy ground, the British tried to use the cover for their attack. The fog, the American's protected position from the British Naval guns, and the wide, open swampland the British marched through allowed the sharp-shooting American frontiersmen to absolutely decimate their assailants. A raised canal wall about five feet high provided the Americans with a protected defensive position while obstructing the enemies progress.
     By the end of the morning, the field looked like a lake of blood, not of the blood of the British, but of the coats of the soldiers that had marched in file against the canal. In a few hours of fighting, the Americans held all but a single section of their line and retained control of New Orleans, the Mississippi, and the country they fought to defend.
     The causalities of this battle are startling considering the vast odds. The British had 2,042 causalities including two generals; the Americans had 71 total: 13 dead, 39 wounded, and 19 missing.

     The Battle of New Orleans is a microcosm of the War of 1812. The Americans fought to defend what they already had against overwhelming might, proven military experience, and the naval dominance of the British Empire. Like the war at large, New Orleans exited the war little changed physically but with a new found energy, confidence, and enthusiasm embodied by its peoples. 

     From a material standpoint, the War of 1812 was a minor affair in British history and only mildly inconvenient for for the United States with the rebuilding of the capitol, notably the White House. War has always influenced history, and the War of 1812 is not an exception however overlooked it is. The results of the war gave the U.S. a concrete identity as a nation. They successfully defended against invasion multiple times against superior forces. This defense came against a larger, more experienced force that had defeated Napoleon months earlier. Thus, the United States became a nation in its own right and was recognized as such. The successful defenses, especially at Fort McHenry and New Orleans, inspired national unity, patriotism, and confidence that the new nation would prevail.
     One of the most significant effects of the Battle of New Orleans was the popularity of Gen. Andrew Jackson who rode that fame to the presidency where his policies affected federal affairs for decades. His stubbornness popularized the donkey as a symbol for the Democrats, the oldest and largest political party in American history, and his handling of the national bank affected budget and economic affairs until after the Civil War, thirty years later.
     America's forgotten war might seem insignificant to the War for Independence forty years earlier or the Civil War forty years later, but because events are not held up in ceremony and acclaim does not diminish the real affect. The War of 1812 helped make America what it is today just as much as its many other bloody conflicts still shape it and the world today.


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Agatha Tyche