CONFEDERATE ANTI-AIRCRAFT…Another Southern 1st...

Standing in the basket of his balloon "Intrepid," Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe observes the battle of Seven Pines, Va.

Confederate gunners created history’s first antiaircraft artillery battery, while Lowe was taking an early morning observation” in the balloon “Washington” near Mechanicsville, “12 guns were simultaneously discharged at short range, some of the shells passing through the rigging of the balloon and nearly all bursting not more than 200 feet beyond it, having gotten their range perfectly.

The professor no doubt needed a change of drawers after this incident...

Photo: Professor Lowe at Seven Pines in the balloon Intrepid May 31st 1862…