Prussia in the American Civil War While trying to unify the various German states under its banner , Prussia was involved in the American Civil War . There were several members of the military elite of Prussia that served as both officers and enlisted men in both armies . There were also official military observers sent to the North American continent to observe the tactics of both armies , which were later studied by future military leaders of Prussia and unified Germany . Among the effects Prussia had on the war was the new saddle used by the Union cavalry : Union General George McClellan had studied Prussian saddles and used them as a basis for his McClellan saddle . Individuals . Justus Scheibert was a Prussian military observer who for seven months followed Robert E . Lee ' s actions at several battles , including the Battle of Chancellorsville and the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 . Upon returning to Prussia in 1864 , Scheibert wrote down his observations and placed them in several of Prussia ' s best libraries . From there what Scheibert learned helped Prussia and later unified Germany in five different wars . Six generals who fought for the Union were Prussian - born . Karl Leopold Matthies was involved in charging Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga , Tennessee , only to be wounded . Alexander Schimmelfennig avoided capture for two days at the Battle of Gettysburg by hiding in a pigsty . Among those that assisted Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in his March to the Sea in Georgia was the Prussian Peter J . Osterhaus . August Willich was captured at the Battle of Stones River , and was wounded at the Battle of Resaca . The others were abolitionist Carl Schurz and Frederick Salomon , brother of the wartime governor of Wisconsin Edward Salomon . In the south , a future military leader of Prussia was gaining first hand experience . The son of the King of Prussia ' s chamberlain , Baron Robert von Massow , served under John S . Mosby in Mosby ' s 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry , known as Mosby ' s Rangers . Massow would later serve as commander of the German IX Corps just prior to World War I . Official action . Most of the small German states were too interested in the current events of Europe to concern themselves with the American war , although they did tend to sympathize more with the Union ' s attempt to defeat the Confederacy . As major powers , Prussia and its rival Germanic state , the Austrian Empire , were more interested , but on the whole they were still less involved in the war than Great Britain and France . In regard to Sherman ' s actions in Georgia , Prussian general Helmuth von Moltke said that " an armed mob " had nothing of value to be learned from . In response , Sherman compared Moltke to an " ass " . There is some evidence this story is somewhat apocryphal since Sherman appearing before the Mixed Commission of American and British Claims ( 1871 ) has been quoted as saying " Moltke was never fool enough to say that . I have seen Moltke in person ; I did not presume to ask him the question because I did not presume he was such an ass to say that . The Prussian army learned many a lesson and profited from them by our war and their officers were prompt to acknowledge it . " In 1862 the British foreign secretary Lord John Russell tried to have Prussia take part along with France and Russia to seek an armistice to end the war , but for naught .