Civil War Balloons in Sculpture

It seems like there's a lot of news on my Twitter feed about the Union army corps that used hot air balloons for reconnaissance (you can find one example tweeted by @CivilWarWeeks here; or learn more via the Civil War Daily Gazette or Wikipedia). This has a lot to do with the fact that in our march of 150th anniversaries of individual events, we are currently hovering around the opening battles of the war, when the use of balloons was having its heyday.

I first learned about balloons in the Civil War when I saw this odd relief panel for the first time:


This is one of three relief panels gracing the base of the Fitz John Porter Monument in Portsmouth, NH, sculpted by James Edward Kelly and installed in 1904. Kelly is a sculptor very close to my heart - years ago, I wrote my undergraduate thesis on his life and work after discovering a vast cache of his unpublished papers in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. Here's a full view of the Porter Monument:


(Note: position of horse's front right hoof is not a prognosticating device!)

The story of how Porter was maligned for his role in the Union loss at the Second Battle of Bull Run, court-martialed, convicted, but eventually cleared of all wrongdoing is a bit long to tell here, but the inclusion of the balloon in a monument to Porter is simpler: on April 11, 1862, Porter went up in a balloon on a reconnaissance mission only to discover that his soldiers on the ground had lost control of the guide ropes! Porter remained cool as a cucumber, though, and refusing to give up an opportunity, continued to record the enemy's position until the balloon was back under control and he could be safely brought down.

So on April 11 of next year, do we get to celebrate the sesquicentennial of Porter's runaway balloon ride?