Seven Months in the Rebel States During the North American War, 1863

Captain Scheibert's [book] was available only in German until W. S. Hoole edited the present version. A member of the Prussian army since 1849, and 'well known as an authority on fortifications,' Scheibert was sent to America 'to study the effect of rifled cannon fire on earth, masonry, and iron, and the operation of armor on land and at sea.' The captain preferred to observe the South rather than the North at war. 'If there ever was a foreign Rebel,' Mr. Hoole asserts, 'he was one.' Scheibert, impressed with the South's 'enormous energy' and 'amazed at the industry of a patriotic people,' was cordially received by President Davis and generals Lee, Jackson, Beauregard, and Stuart. The vivid impressions, observations, and characterizations of a Prussian captain are a significant commentary on the engagements at Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, and Gettysburg, on blockade running, and on the spirit of the people and their military genius. - Wendell Holmes Stephenson, Journal of Southern History