"Beautiful and brave, outlandish and unconventional, Princess Agnes Salm-Salm played a sometimes controversial, often conspicuous, and always colorful role in three of the nineteenth century's major events: the American Civil War, the fall of Maximilian's empire in Mexico, and the Franco-Prussian War." "During the Civil War this mysterious American woman married a German soldier of fortune who served in the Union Army and happened also to be a minor prince. Over the course of the war she combined beauty and assertiveness to advance her husband's career and in the meantime lived a most unlikely adventure. The impetuous couple later rallied to Maximilian's cause in Mexico, where Agnes's extravagant efforts to save the doomed emperor made her a leading figure in the tragedy. The princess went on to earn praise for her work in the field hospitals of France." "By the time of her death in 1912 this enigmatic woman's life had become the stuff of myth, which she had only encouraged. Stories featured her fighting beside her husband in battle while treating the wounded. She claimed to have received a captain's commission for her services and to have been a close friend of President Lincoln, which apparently she was not. One story even placed her in command of a company of troops during Sherman's March to the Sea."--Jacket.