use of a converted coal barge, the George Washington Parke Custis, onto which he loaded two new balloons and two new hydrogen gas generators, with which Lowe performed the first observations over water thereby making the GWP Custis the first ever aircraft carrier. In Lowe's Official Report to the Secretary Of War, he stated: Lowe went on to serve in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, making observations over Mechanicsville, Virginia, and the ensuing Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks. This particular battle marks a pivotal moment where conflicting intelligence reports between Lowe (in the air) and Pinkerton (scouting on the ground) gave vastly different accounts on the number of Confederate troops. It is believed that had McClellan valued Lowe's intelligence over Pinkerton's, the Confederacy could have been dealt a "knockout blow" to its forces. Lowe's ascent in the Intrepid over the Battle of Seven Pines, where he observed the oncoming Confederate Army and reported troop movements in a timely manner, saved the isolated army of General Samuel P. Heintzelman. Though he had used the hydrogen gas generators (each balloon camp was assigned two generator units), the inflation time was still another hour off. He quickly transferred the gas from the Constitution into the Intrepid by cutting a hole in the bottom of a camp kettle and connecting the balloons at the valve ends. The process took fifteen minutes, a time savings later valued at "a million dollars a minute." The muddy bogs around Fair Oaks and the Chickahominy River gave rise to many exotic diseases such as typhoid and malaria. Lowe contracted malaria and was put out of service for more than a month. The unsuccessful Army of the Potomac was ordered to retreat to Washington, and Lowe's wagons and mules were commandeered for the withdrawal and eventually returned to the Quartermaster. When Lowe returned to Washington, he was hard-pressed to be put back into service. Eventually, he was called to Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg, where his services were used. End of the Balloon Corps The Balloon Corps was reassigned to the Engineers Corps. Lowe had been paid as a colonel ($10 gold per day), but in March 1863, Captain Cyrus B. Comstock was put in charge of the newly reassigned air division and cut Lowe's pay to $6 cash ($3 gold). At the same time, a Congressional assessment was being made of the air division and a disparaging third