[1] Prince Felix Constantin Alexander Johann Nepomuk of Salm-Salm, was born at Anholt Castle, the Residenz of the former Principality of Salm, which had been incorporated into the Prussian Province of Westphalia by 1815.

The 1815 Congress of Vienna confirmed the Salm dynasty's loss of sovereignty but recognized the retention of royal privileges of the Princes of Salm-Salm as a Mediatized House in the German Confederation.

However, his erratic way of life alienated his family; substantial gambling debts as well as several scandals and duels finally forced him to emigrate.

He had met her at a reception given by President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D. C., where he was introduced by the Prussian envoy Friedrich von Gerolt.

[2] He was eventually released and actually appointed colonel of New York's 68th in June, 1864,[1] serving under Brigadier General James B. Steedman in Tennessee and Georgia, he took part in the Battle of Nashville, and toward the end of the war was assigned to the command of the post at Atlanta.

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.

His faithful wife Agnes who again had joined him, serving as a nurse on the battlefield, had his mortal remains transferred to the family crypt in Anholt Castle, Germany.