View source for Felix Salm-Salm

{{multiple issues|unreferenced =May 2009|intromissing =May 2009|cleanup =May 2009}}

{{Infobox military person
| name          = Prince Felix Salm-Salm
| image         = [[File:Felix Salm-Salm - Brady-Handy.jpg|150px]]
| caption       = Prince Felix Salm-Salm, during his service in the [[American Civil War]]
| born          = {{Birth date|1828|12|25|df=yes}}
| died          = {{Death date and age|1870|8|18|1828|12|25|df=yes}}
| placeofburial_label = 
| placeofburial =
| placeofbirth  = [[Lordship of Anholt|Anholt]], [[Prussia]]
| placeofdeath  = [[Gravelotte]], [[France]]
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| nickname      =
| allegiance    = [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[Austria–Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]], [[United States|United States of America]], [[Second Mexican Empire]]
| branch        =
| serviceyears  =
| rank          = [[Brigadier General]] ([[Union Army]]), [[Major]] ([[Prussian Army]])
| servicenumber =
| unit          =
| commands      = [[8th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]], [[68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]]
| battles       = Siege of [[Querétaro]], [[Battle of Gravelotte]]
| awards        =
| relations     =
| laterwork     =
}}

Prince '''Felix Salm-Salm''' was born in [[Isselburg|Anholt]], Prussia, 25 December 1828.  Felix was the son of the reigning Prince zu Salm Salm. He grew up training to be a soldier at a cadet-school in [[Berlin]], Germany and soon became an officer in the Prussian cavalry.  Early on he participated in the [[First Schleswig War]] between Northern Germany and [[Denmark]], where he demonstrated bravery in battle.  After the war he joined the Austrian army for a short time but resigned.  

In 1861, he came to the [[United States]] and offered his services to the [[Union army]] in the [[American Civil War]].  He was given a colonel's commission and assigned to the staff of General [[Louis Blenker]].  It was at this time that he began to court a red-haired American woman of Indian descent named Agnes.  Felix would marry her in August 1862.  [[Agnes Salm-Salm]] would end up joining Felix on the battlefield because she could not bear being without him.  That winter he took command of the [[8th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] but would only remain there through the winter.  He was appointed colonel of the [[68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] in June, 1864, serving under General [[James B. Steedman]] in Tennessee and Georgia, and toward the end of the war was assigned to the command of the post at [[Atlanta]].  Here he would receive the rank of brigadier-general.  

After the American war was over, he offered his services to Emperor [[Maximilian I of Mexico]] and embarked for Mexico in February, 1866.  Maximilian was actively promoting American soldiers to migrate to Mexico after the war to improve relations with the country.  Salm-Salm was an interesting case because most of the Americans who moved fought for the Confederacy.  By the summer he was appointed colonel. He became the emperor's aide-de-camp and chief of his household.  He was captured at [[Querétaro]] along with the emperor but not before he made a brave charge with his [[hussar]] cavalry in an attempt to save Maximilian from the surrounding Mexican Republican army under [[Benito Juárez]].  

Soon after Maximilian's execution, he returned to Europe, re-entered the Prussian army as major in the grenadier guards, and was killed at the [[Battle of Gravelotte]].

His memoirs were edited by German author [[Otto von Corvin]].

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salm-Salm, Felix}}
[[category:1828 births]]
[[Category:1870 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Isselburg]]
[[Category:Prussian Army personnel]]
[[Category:Austrian soldiers]]
[[Category:Union Army officers]]
[[Category:Mexican soldiers]]
[[Category:German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War]]
[[Category:House of Salm-Salm|Felix Salm Salm]]
[[Category:People of the American Civil War]]

[[de:Felix zu Salm-Salm]]