Jack Hitt

But word has spread.

And there's like a lynch mob there.

And they're out to get it.

And so his balloon is put on a train.

And then he separately has to go back to first Kentucky and then Cincinnati and then back east.

And he sort of describes like, you know, these trains are packed and it's full of people escaping the South.

I mean, the war, and he realizes the war is on.

Soldiers are going both ways.

Everyone was getting ready because suddenly Thaddeus realized it was war.

Pivot's beautiful.

He just needs a new stunt and he comes up with it.

And it's only a few weeks later.

So that was April.

Now it's June 18th.

He has come to DC with his gas bag and he's inflated it right outside the White House.

and nailed it to the ground.

But this time he puts a telegraph system in the basket and runs a wire straight down to the ground where he has a little messenger boy.

And he sends the first airborne telegram and the return address is balloon enterprise in the air, June 18th, 1861 to his excellency, Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States.

you know, this balloon is right outside his window.

And so he taps out a telegraph message.