The American Civil War is often credited with spurring various developments in battlefield tactics from learning how to deal with the increased range and accuracy of large numbers of rifled weapons to further developments in field works and early examples of what we might call trench warfare such as at Petersburg in 1864/65. My question is, when Prussia went to war in 1864 and again in 1866 for example, to what extent did lessons learned from the American Civil War (if any at all) influence how forces were deployed at the tactical level?
The civil war is often credited with the first widespread use of railroads, ironclads, siege warfare and rifled weapons, but really it just reinforced the use of these new technologies.
If one looks at the Crimean War in Europe from 1853-1856 all these technologies were already present. The British besieged Sevastopol for a year and built a railroad to supply their troops much like Petersburg. The French had armored floating batteries which were the precursors of the Monitor and Merrimack. Lastly the Enfield, which was so widespread in the American Civil War, was originally patterned in 1853 and used extensively by the British during the Crimean War.
This Reddit has a lot of this information already: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1k6bs9/was_the_crimean_war_the_first_modern_war/
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Honestly, it was pretty limited at the time.
European observers took a pretty dim view of ACW combat at the developments. Often referring the trope and idea that it wasn't 2 armies fighting, but 2 mobs swinging at each other.
And that isn't without cause. In Europe armies had already begun to use early single shot breech loading rifles, such as the Dreyse Needle Gun in Prussia. Field artillery was also much more developed with more effective breech loaders.
We must also comment on the lack of cavalry as a true mature arm, and especially heavy cavalry designed for shock action, in the ACW. Without real dragoons or Cuirasses, defeated armies could slink away to fight again. While in Europe a defeated enemy could be harried and hacked and potentially butchered if not careful.
While the US eventually caught up in a sense, notably Sheridan's use of cavalry to block Lee at Appomattox, it was through their eventual incorporation of superior firepower, not because of their ability to close to shock action.
While theorists such as Emory Upton advocated reform based on their Civil War experiences, in many ways it was them attempting to incorporate the lessons of the Prussian wars and move to a system more resembling those found on the Continent, with things like a General Staff, larger standing armies, and continuing professional education.