Professor Lowe inflating Balloon Intrepid to reconnoiter Battle of Fair Oaks

Photograph shows Professor Thaddeus S. Lowe inflating his balloon "Intrepid" from portable gas tanks with help from Union soldiers in Henrico County, Virginia.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1862, by Alexander Gardner, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Columbia.
Gift; Tom Liljenquist; 2016; (DLC/PP-2016:144)
Purchased from: Jeffrey Kraus, New Paltz, New York, March 2015.
Forms part of: Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs (Library of Congress).
pp/liljpaper

Alexander Gardner (October 17, 1821 - December 10, 1882) was a Scottish photographer who is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War. He emigrated to the United States in 1856 and worked as a photographer in Mathew Brady's studio. Gardner was sent to document the American Civil War and produced some of the most iconic images of the conflict, including photographs of the battlefields at Antietam and Gettysburg. After the war, Gardner photographed President Lincoln and the American West, including images of Native Americans, settlers, and the construction of the transcontinental railroad.