Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-14
A CONFEDERATE AIRsHIP.
The Bird of Art Which Was to L
strOy Grants Army.

The Bird of Art Which Was to De-
strOy Grants Army.
From the Charleston News and Courier.
A few days ago a person who had been
reading an account Of an experimental
trip of Count Zeppelin's airship remarked
that in few more years people will travel
in the air instead of on the solid earth.
Iron and steel rails will lose their value,
because railroads will go out of use. The
new mode of travel will be more pleasant,
for there will be no dust, and, by rising
higher, as necessity may require, the happy
traveller may keep cool.
Travelling in the air by means of balloons
is not of very remote date. The first sue
cessful experiments in this line were made
in France about 11SS when the balloon
sailed across the Seine and a part of Paris,
remaining in the air twenty-five minutes.
balloon was used for military observa-
ton at the battle of Fleurus, fought in
1874.
A great deal concerning aerostation can
be found in books and newspapers, but
there is one experiment that seems to have
escaped the notice of the curious.
In the winter of 1s64-65 General Robert Z.
Lee and his army were defending Peters
burg. Va The troops were stretched out
along the lines perhaps at the rate of one
to every 100 yards.
McGowan's brigade held the works not
ia: from Battery a. Tor the Star ForD and
near where the great dam was built. One
cold, raw day the brigade called out,
without arms, to hear speech from
"Prof" Flank The old soldiers crowded
around and took their seats on the cold
81 ound. and he unfolded his scheme for
demoralizing and driving away Grants
army. He had Just invented an airship.
In shape it was something like bird,
and for that reason he had called it ARTS
Avis" or 1.-The Bird of Art which was
the meaning of the two Latin words The
a. rf hoo "a ira
was covered with white oak splits 1t was
to be run by a onehersepower engine. and
one man to each bird would be sufficient.
The engine was to be in the body of the
bird, and to furnish power for keeping the
wings in motion small door at the
shoulder was opened or closed to control
the direction of the Bird of Art. A door
under the throat was opened when it was
desirable to descend and a door on top of
the neck when the operator wished to go
higher. There was machinery by which the
tail could be spread out or closed. In the
body of the bird there was room for a
number of shells, and the operator by
touching a spring with his foot, could drop
them upon the enemy from a safe dis
lance.
The professor said that he had COM
pleted one bird and made a test of its speed
and how it would work He tied it to a
fiat car, which was coupled to fast en-
CINE 1t was attached to the fiat car with
long, strong rope. The word was given,
and the railroad engine started off at
great speed. The Bird of Art did the same,
and had no trouble in keeping up with
the iron horse without pulling on the rope.
The professor concluded his remarks
by saying he needed little more money to
make birds enough to destroy Grants army,
and asked the old soldiers to contribute
one dollar each to the cause. Many of them
did. and the professor moved on and dis
appeared.
No doubt many Of the survivors have for
gotten this incident, but not long ago the
writer met John w. Butler, a commercial
traveller. who belonged to the 18th Southern
Confederate Volunteers, in 1864, and asked
him:
did you ever hear of the Arts Avis?'
He replied: II certainly have heard of it.,
for / gave a dollar to it,