From the Richmond Dispatch, 6/18/1862, p. 1, c. 7

Balloons for Army Use. – Professor James C. Patton, of Petersburg, Va., has been authorized by the Government to construct, immediately, for army use, a balloon on the most approved principles. – Mr. Patton has had a great deal of experience in this department of human industry, and no doubt will be able to do considerable good to our cause by his observations in the air. It was Patton who first suggested to the Government of the late U. S. the use of iron-clad or bomb-proof vessels, and it promised to give him $100,000 is they ever used his invention, which, as things now stand, they will no doubt do – in a horn.

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