Regimental and staff duty alternately occupied him until 1863, when he was made major-general, and given the command of a brigade of Guard Infantry.

In 1870, at first employed with the 3rd Army Headquarters and in command of the Württemberg and Baden forces, he was after the Battle of Wörth entrusted with the operations against Strasbourg, which he captured after a long and famous siege.

[1] Promoted general of infantry, and assigned to command the new XIVth Army Corps, Werder defeated the French at Dijon and at Nuits, and, when Charles-Denis Bourbaki's army moved forward to relieve Belfort, turned upon him and fought the desperate action of Battle of Villersexel, which enabled him to cover the Germans besieging Belfort.

[1][2] In the course of this enthusiastic prevailing mood, a monument - the Siegesdenkmal - was erected in Freiburg im Breisgau to honor his services and the victory of the German people in the Franco-Prussian War.

[citation needed] After the war Werder commanded the Baden forces, now called the XlVth Army Corps, until he retired in 1879.