The following is an article by author Malachi Alvord van Kirk from the September 1861 issue of Duffel Blog’s Civil War-era predecessor, The Knapsack Gazette.

FORT CORCORAN, Va. — Union Army Balloon Corps chief Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe recently had to ground his observation balloon due to the occurrence of lightning within five nautical miles of post.

"Not this balderdash again," Prof. Lowe said to his men angrily, according to witnesses. "It's not even raining out!"

Per the accounts of several soldiers, an otherwise boresome watch took a bizarre turn when volunteer Smithsonian meteorological observer and Union Army Pvt. Wiley Ehrman noticed a thunderstorm approaching the fortification from the west around noontime today, right as the balloon finished inflating.