John LaMountain

He was privately contracted as an aerial observer by General Butler at Fort Monroe during the American Civil War and is accredited with having made the first report of useful intelligence on enemy activity.

Known more for his overbearingly contentious mannerisms, and a propensity to ride the coat tails of more successful balloonists, LaMountain was not considered relevant to the science of ballooning.

The time occupied in making this journey was nineteen hours and fifty minutes, and the distance traversed 1,150 miles (1,850 km), or 826 in a straight line.

[citation needed] In September 1859, La Mountain made an ascension with the Atlantic, along with newspaperman John Haddock, from Watertown, New York across Minnesota and Michigan.

[2] When Butler was relieved of command of Fort Monroe, LaMountain also lost his position and was assigned to the Union Army Balloon Corps under Chief Aeronaut Thaddeus S. C. Lowe.