To.
Professor Joseph Henry
Secretary
of the Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir.
I beg pardon for troubling you with my affairs connected with the
Government but in as much as the first operations of Balloons for
Military purposes were under your immediate supervision, and you
being acquainted with the fact that these experiments were made
with my own machinery and subsequently used in the field by order
of Captain A. W. Whipple later Gen'l Whipple now dead and from whom
I can get no assistance, I hope that you will find it consistent
to furnish to the Hon. Secretary of War such a statement as will
satisfy him of the truthfulness of my claims. In order that you
may know what my claims are and judge of their correctness I enclose
them with this letter....
The way I now stand in relation to my employment with the government
is this... The amount I have received for service has barely supported
my family at home and myself in the field. For want of a proper
investigation of the advantages of my branch of science and proper
organization of the Department its use has been suspended, which
throws me out of employment too late in the season to resume my
former enterprise, besides which my health is considerably impaired
by hard work and constant exposure in the field - while in the government
employ I have managed my Department, with the strictest economy
and with the very best of faith and did all that I possibly could
for the cause in which we were engaged.
My report shows this and also the great value of my services on
several particular occasions in testimony of which I have letters
from Major Generals Heintzelman and Stoneman and shall soon have
obtained a dozen others from Generals who have used the balloons...
As things now stand, I hope at least to be able to obtain the amount
contained in the accompanying accounts and the one already at the
War Department for the approval of the Hon. Secretary of War the
whole amounting to about three thousand dollars. Should I meet with
much delay in getting this amount it will probably defeat the object
for which I have been laboring for many years, and will consequently
put me to much distress. Again, asking your pardon for troubling
you. Knowing as I do, that in addition to your labors at the Smithsonian
Institution, that much of your time is occupied in rendering valuable
scientific service in the General Government.
I remain with great respect
Your ever obd't servant
T. S. C. Lowe
Aeronaut
No 1617 Race St.
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