"This is what other countries thought about the US Civil War" Topic

"It may seem weird that another country would just show up to war to have a look, but it used to be a fairly common activity, one the United Nations still practices. A military observer is a diplomatic representative of sorts, used by one government to track the battles, strategies, and tactics used in a war it isn't fighting, but may have an interest in watching — and learning from.

Professional soldiers were embedded within fighting units, but were not considered diplomats, journalists, or spies. They wore the uniform of their home country and understood the importance of terrain, technology, and military history as it played out on the latest battlefield. The Civil War had no shortage of interest from the rest of the world.

England, France, and Germany all sent observers to both sides of the fighting as early as 1862. They were concerned with the technologies related to metallurgy, rifling of cannons, explosive shells, cartridge calibers, and, of course, the new observation balloons used in the war. German observers were concerned with the power of militia and volunteer forces in the face of a standing, professional army. These observations formed many of the tactical developments used in later conflicts, especially World War I…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Nothing unusual about that. The US had observers for the Crimean War and the Franco-Prussian war to name a few.

It is interesting to see that many of the observers refused to learn from what they had seen. The advances in medical science were totally ignored to the detriment of many a poor soul in the Franco-Prussian War.

McClellan was one of the U.S. observers of the Crimean War.

I'm not so sure about observers wearing uniforms, however. The movie Gettysburg shows the British observer wearing his red dress uniform and sipping hot tea out of a china cup (complete with saucer). Ridiculous!

I would wager a bet that none of them "observed" it up close and personal like as many of the Union and Confederate soldiers did ?

Russ Dunaway

The British observer was a fake….?

Amicalement
Armand

Arthur Lyon Fremantle was very real. Very doubtful he had a uniform on him at Gettysburg though – more than likely he would have been in civvies.

The wikipedia article on Richard Delafield includes a photograph – probably taken in St Petersburg – of him, Major Alfred Mordecai and Captain George McClellan in full dress uniforms. Whether they would have worn any uniforms in the field is another matter, however.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels favored the Union; they published several articles in London in support of Lincoln and the Federal government as representing the workers proletariat, as opposed to the slave-holding, aristocratic Confederacy. Given later Communist attitudes, I found this ironic.

August Willich, an early member of the Communist League, split with Karl Marx because he felt Marx was too conservative. Willich emigrated to America and served in the Union army during the Civil War where he rose to the rank of brevet Major General. Given later American attitudes, I found this really ironic.

Willich was a good brigade commander in the Army of the Cumberland.

August Willich, an early member of the Communist League, split with Karl Marx because he felt Marx was too conservative.

Something really Monty Python about that!

Best laugh I've had today!

He certainly had an impressive war record though.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels favored the Union; they published several articles in London in support of Lincoln and the Federal government as representing the workers proletariat, as opposed to the slave-holding, aristocratic Confederacy. Given later Communist attitudes, I found this ironic.

It is one of the entertaining things about history, it is filled with irony. A corollary to the old adage that "the one thing we learn from history is that we fail to learn from history" resulting in loads of irony.

There are photos showing European and US observers during the Crimean War wearing uniforms.

They didn't want to be mistaken for a spy, or worse, a civilian. Wearing the uniform denoted their country and purpose for wondering around the army or in the ACW armies, as there were British observers on both sides. Sir Garnet Wolseley was one British officer that spent time with the Army of the Potomac.

Major General Sir William Fenwick Williams, commander of British forces in North America, sent three officers to visit the Army of the Potomac, fortifications around Washington, D.C., and foundries located throughout the North.

Because of this, wearing the uniform tended to be the norm, rather than civilian dress.

It would be a little different for Colonel Freemantle.

The British government did not officially recognize the Confederacy and had declared themselves neutral in the conflict.

Freemantle could not be in the Confederacy in any official capacity, but as a private citizen he could travel there if he chose to. That is why he most likely wore civilian clothes instead of his uniform.

In uniform it could be argued that we was there in some kind of official capacity and would have caused diplomatic problems between the British and US governments.