Hauptmann von Krohllen, Prussian Observer

Haupman v. Krohllen wears the model 1843 Prussian field service tunic. The uniform could be worn with the model 1860 spike helmet or the field cap shown in the photograph. Breeches or trousers could be worn depending on expected service, with white trousers for summer wear. Rank is indicated by pips on the officers shoulder boards and the officers knot attached to the sword hilt. Some regiments were distinguished with the use of collar and cuff lace, together with the design of the cuff itself. Regimental cyphers and numbers were often attached to the officers boards. Dress belts of silver and black brocade were often replaced with leather in the field. The issue of ribbons, to commerate awards and service was just beginning during this period.

Prussia Observes the War

Though Prussia sent few official observers to view the American Civil War, several adventurers came on their own to observe the action. Ever eager to witness the newest developments in warfare and equipment, the Prussians were particularly interested in the effects of the new rifled artillery on fortifications and the use of railroads to move troops.

Most Prussians who came to observe could not resist joining in the fight and so it was that Heros von Borcke, a cavalry officer, joined J.E.B. Stuart as an aide-de-camp and Prince Felix Salm-Salm offered his services to Abraham Lincoln and served as an officer in various Union Regiments. The twenty-three year old Count von Zeppelin, later of airship fame, also made a short trip to Washington during the war.

Prussian expertise helped the American War, as when Julius Scheibert, a Prussian Engineer and official observer, on General Stuart's staff, prepared maps, translated letters and aided in the construction of bridges and breastworks.

A Word from Baronness von Krohllen

While I have read Mrs. Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and found it to be a very moving book, I can see no reason to fight a war over it. Just as the Junkers are the ruling class of Prussia, and Prussia will someday rule a united Germany (so says Herr Bismarck), so too is there a natural ruling class in America, though it is not acknowledged as such. The aristocratic classes have kept the world in order for a thousand years, whereas liberal ideas of equality for all can lead to nothing but anarchy and chaos.

As for women, we should stay out of politics--our strengths are in the domestic realm. Would you have men be nursery maids? We are the mothers of our sons, who are the future leaders of the world: our efforts should lie with them. We are the helpmates of our husbands: without us they would not accomplish half of what they do.

My interests lie in the latest fashions from Paris, the latest operas from Herr Wagner and the most recently published patterns for crocheted lace. The most pressing news of the day, in my opinion, concerns the births, deaths and marriages of the royal families of Europe and Mr. Worth's latest creations for the Empress Eugenie.

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Links to web sites related to this topic:

A German Looks at American Women (from Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, April 1862)
The European Social Scene in the Mid-Nineteenth Century