"Captain Scheibert's [book] was available only in German until W. S. Poole 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. Poole asserts, 'he was one.' Sche...

Captain Scheibert’s book was available only in German until W. S. Hoole edited the present version.