Fitz-John's Folly

Many noteworthy events occurred on this date during the War Between the States, but perhaps none more interesting and entertaining (perhaps even humorous, depending on one's perspective) than the unexpected ride that General Fitz-John Porter took on this date in 1862.

Porter was a career military man, a professional warrior, an exemplar for and leader of men. He was serving in the Union Army under Major General George McClellan when that commander decided against attacking Confederate forces under General John B. Magruder at Yorktown. McClellan instead decided to besiege the enemy, and he put Porter in charge of the siege.

For some time, Porter had been intrigued by the novel idea, introduced by inventor Thaddeus Lowe, of using lighter-than-air balloons to reconnoiter enemy lines. He had taken several balloon rides with Lowe, who was the Chief Aeronaut and the head of the Union Army Balloon Corps, a civilian operation attached to the army.

About 5:00 a.m. on April 11, 1862, when Lowe was sidelined by sickness, Porter decided to take a solo flight to see the latest disposition of the enemy lines. After all, he had watched Lowe fly the balloon several times and felt confident that he, too, could handle it. Besides, the balloon was usually tethered by three or four ropes, and he would go up to just a short height, look around a bit, and then descend. He would certainly be safe. And he certainly believed that he could handle it.

Unbeknownst to him (or did he simply disregard the fact?), that morning the balloon was secured by only one rope. But what could go wrong?

As the balloon ascended, Porter played out the full length of the rope, about 2,700 feet. The balloon ascended quickly, and when it reached the extent of the tether, the rope snapped. The balloon kept rising. Whereas the air was calm on the ground, a breeze was blowing aloft, and the balloon began drifting quickly toward the Confederate lines.

By the time Porter realized his predicament, his soldiers also had become aware of his situation and came streaming from their tents and duty posts to see the spectacle and shout advice to him.

"Pull the value!" they yelled.

As the balloon approached the Confederate lines, it began also to descend. Seeing what was happening, the Confederates, anticipating the capture of a Union soldier, began shooting at it, trying to bring it down faster. But an upward gust of air lifted it out of musket range. As fate would have it, the wind also suddenly changed direction, blowing Porter back over the Union lines.

But Porter was not yet out of danger. He feared that he might be blown beyond the James River if he didn't land soon. Desperate, he climbed from the basket to grab the valve line. He jerked it hard to open the valve and release the gases. He jerked so hard that he lost his grip on the rope and fell half inside and half outside the basket.

The balloon fell quickly, but he couldn't slow its descent because the rope for closing the valve was now out of his reach. The balloon began to go limp and fall even more quickly. As it neared the ground, Porter jumped into a tree and, enveloped by the deflated balloon, hung on by one arm and one leg. His troops were finally able to lower him safely to the ground.

A later investigation showed that the rope (or ropes) tethering the balloon had been eaten away by an acid that was used to manufacture the gas used in the balloon. Porter accused the sergeant in charge of the balloon of having applied it intentionally and maliciously as a means of retaliating against his captain, who often ascended in the balloon, for an argument the two had had earlier. Porter, not the captain, however, had been on the receiving end of the sergeant's alleged mischief.

Porter subsequently had to tolerate overhearing his soldiers and fellow officers alike refer to his experience as "Fitz-Porter's Folly." Soon, the whole nation, indeed the whole world, learned about his adventure as newspapers reported (and repeated) the fiasco.

But that was not the end of Porter's troubles. He later was court martialed for his alleged responsibility for the Union defeat in the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run).

As one of my daughters quipped with a chuckle after having witnessed a parent harshly reprimand her child in the grocery store, "It's funny when it's not you!"