Jack Hitt

And those guys scatter.

And years afterwards, in a century war book, General James Longstreet wrote a little passage about how at one point they were amazed because President Jefferson Davis said,

general robert e lee general james longstreet probably stonewall jackson too were all there with their staff at this one moment and then he writes it was impossible for the enemy to see us as we sat on our horses in this little field surrounded by tall heavy timber and thick undergrowth and yet a battery by chance had our range in our exact distance and poured upon us a terrifying fire

But it was not by chance.

So not by chance.

And if those shots had connected, the war would have ended.

Oh, my God.

In fact, the gas bag was so successful that the South tried to copy it.

The South had to respond.

You know, it was an arms race of sorts, right?

Now, of course, they didn't have, you know, trade with the South.

There was no more foreign trade, right?

So they couldn't get materials easily.

And so rather scandalously, they appropriated or was donated all of the petticoat material by the ladies of the South.

So all the foundation garments and other bits would have to be sacrificed for the greater good.

It was the underwear balloon.

You know, the Southerners claim, they got angry about this, by the way, later.

And of course, these were bolts of dress material before they were made into actual clothes.

But this petticoat balloon finally gets launched.

The arms race is on.