In 1812 Russia secured the services of a German balloon builder named Leppich, or Leppig, to build a war balloon. It had the form of a fish, and was so large that the inflation required five days, but the construction of the framework was faulty, and some important parts gave way during inflation, and the airship never left the ground. As it was intended that this balloon should be dirigible and supplied with explosives, and take an active part in attacks on enemies, it may be regarded as the first aerial warship. [Illustration: A military dirigible making a tour of observation.] In 1849, however, the first actual employment of the balloon in warfare took place. Austria was engaged in the bombardment of Venice, and the range of the besieging batteries was not great enough to permit shells to be dropped into the city. The engineers formed a balloon detachment, and made a number of Montgolfiers out of paper. These were of a size sufficient to carry bombs weighing 30 pounds for half an hour before coming down. These war balloons were taken to the windward side of the city, and after a pilot balloon had been floated over the point where the bombs were to fall, and the time consumed in the flight ascertained, the fuses of the bombs were set for the same time, and the war balloons were released. The actual damage done by the dropping of these bombs was not great, but the moral effect upon the people of the city was enormous. The balloon detachment changed its position as the wind changed, and many shells were exploded in the heart of the city, one of them in the market place. But the destruction wrought was insignificant as compared with that usually resulting from cannonading. As these little Montgolfiers were sent up unmanned, perhaps they are not strictly entitled to be dignified by the name of war balloon, being only what in this day would be called aerial bombs. The next use of the balloon in warfare was by Napoleon III, in 1859. He sent up Lieutenant Godard, formerly a manufacturer of balloons, and Nadar, the balloonist, at Castiglione. It was a tour of observation only, and Godard made the important discovery that the inhabitants were gathering their flocks of domestic animals and choking the roads with them, to oppose the advance of the French. The first military use of balloons in the United States was at the time of the Civil War. Within a month after the war broke out, Professor T. S. C. Lowe, of Washington, put himself and his balloon at the command of President Lincoln, and on June 18, 1861, he sent to the President a telegram from the balloon--the first record of the kind in history.