Markers

Civil War Observation Balloon Site

Marker inscription:

This site, once part of the Phillips property and occupied by the Union Army in the winter of 1862-1863 became the launch site for Aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe reconnaissance balloons.  The tethered balloon Eagle with General Edwin Sumner’s staff officer, Lt. Col. William Teall ascending to the heights of 900 feet to observe and report the troop movements engaged in the battle of Fredericksburg.