On August 6, 1859, 20-year-old John A. Light stood before a crowd of excited spectators in Hagerstown’s Public Square. Several thousand people filled Washington and Potomac Streets, leaning out the windows of the Hagerstown Hotel and balancing precariously on the roof of the Globe Inn.
Behind John Light a huge silk hot air balloon called darkness was tethered to the ground. Light climbed into the balloon’s basket and prepared to ascend. The balloon’s ropes were released, and Light soon rose hundreds – and then thousands – of feet into the air above the rooftops of Hagerstown as spectators cheered and waved.
Described as a “scientific and daring aeronaut,” Light was one of the region’s most popular aeronauts in the 19th century, completing more than 120 ascents in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia over the course of 18 years.
At the end of 1773, the first hot air balloons flew over Paris. During this period of scientific balloon discoveries, a period of “balloonomania” broke out in France and soon throughout Europe, an obsession with hot air balloons and aeronauts.
On March 2, 1784, the French aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard made his first successful balloon flight in Paris. Later, in 1793, Blanchard became the first balloonist to ascend on American soil in Philadelphia in front of a crowd of onlookers, including President George Washington.
In the early 19th century, Hagerstown newspapers informed residents of successful balloon flights by famous aeronauts, including the “Admiral of Aeronauts,” Guillame Eugene Robertson, and the mysterious “Madame Johnson,” the first woman to fly a balloon in the United States (both took off from Castle Garden in New York City, a popular spot among aeronauts).
But no other balloonist caught the attention of Washington County residents more than John Light.
Light was born in 1838 in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, known for its balloon innovators. He married Lucetta Lutz in 1858 and the couple had two children. In 1860, Light’s occupation was listed on the U.S. Census as “aeronaut.”
Light, who lived in South Lebanon, Pennsylvania, returned to Hagerstown in August 1860 and started again in darkness from Public Square. He reached 1,000 feet above Hagerstown before dropping a parachute-clad cat over the edge of his basket. The cat floated safely, if frightened, to the ground just outside of town. Light also tossed out a pair of confused pigeons, which immediately flew home. The darkness landed in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, from where Light took a carriage back to Hagerstown.
By the fall of 1860, Light had made 24 ascents in the darknessincluding from nearby Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Light’s flights were successful – although there was reportedly “an incident over Clear Spring,” the details of which are unknown.
Although Light crashed safely, the aeronauts were constantly worried that he would be injured or killed. In December 1860, several newspapers falsely printed that Light had died after being thrown from his balloon with a broken neck.
When the Civil War began in 1861, Light continued his upward climbs for local people, including Boonsboro. Eventually, in 1862, he joined Company H of the 3rd Regiment of Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. He enlisted as a private and rose to the rank of first lieutenant. His company saw action at Gettysburg in 1863.
By the time Light was commissioned, the Union Army had already organized and disbanded its Balloon Corps. Famed balloonist Thaddeus Lowe was appointed Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army in 1861. He designed and constructed seven gas-filled balloons that were used primarily for aerial reconnaissance of Confederate movements. Ultimately, the challenges of the Balloon Corps outweighed its advantages, but the use of war balloons foreshadowed the future birth of the U.S. Air Force.
After the war, Light resumed his career and made numerous balloon flights in 1866. Pay varied, but for a flight from Middletown, Pennsylvania, Light earned $100—about $1,976 today.
On August 11, 1866, Light returned to Hagerstown and launched his new balloon from Public Square. Flying Cloud. Not long afterward, he ascended from Chambersburg (which had been burned by Brigadier General John McCausland just two years earlier) and parachuted a small dog from his basket. The dog landed in a nearby nursery. On one ascent from Chambersburg in 1867, Light floated all the way to Funkstown, where farmers looked up from their crops and saw a silk balloon passing in the sky.
A dangerous accident occurred in August 1867 when Light’s newest balloon, Montgolfiersplit – and crashed quickly before plunging into the Juniata River. Unharmed, Light soon took the title of “Professor” and often introduced himself as a man of science. Over the next four years, Light designed and constructed three new hot air balloons – Albion, antenna And Sky blue.
Professor Light continued to entertain residents in the East, but in 1872 began traveling to New York, Indiana, and Illinois. He ascended with passengers, including his wife, Lucetta, who later became an aeronaut herself. By 1875, at the age of 37, Light had made more than 120 recorded ascents.
Unfortunately, Light’s final years were turbulent and marked by scandal and increasing alcohol consumption. In July 1876, newspapers reported that Light had been shot by an unnamed woman, his “mistress,” after an argument in a crowd in Paris, Illinois.
While Light’s reported death was again a hoax, he had been injured by a woman during a public argument. In letters to the press, Light assured the public that he was alive and would continue to make balloon flights.
But the following year, on April 5, 1877, Light died at the age of 38 from “cervical consumption,” a condition that was accelerated by alcohol abuse. Numerous newspapers reported on his death, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Commenting: “This time he is definitely dead.” Shepherdstown Register remembered him as a “well-known and intrepid balloonist”.
$20,000 in four hours: New exhibition to mark the 160th anniversary of the Hagerstown ransom
The career of the region’s most popular aeronaut came to an end after almost twenty years in the skies.
John Light’s work was a marvel of the 19th century and a forerunner of the first airplane, which only made its first flight in 1903.
Although Light never achieved the notoriety of aeronauts such as Thaddeus Lowe, he entertained and inspired local residents with hot air balloons that took off and floated over the rooftops and fields of Washington County.
Abigail Koontz is curator/program director of the Washington County Historical Society.
This article originally appeared in the Herald-Mail: Pennsylvania balloonist drew crowds in Hagerstown in 1859
