The early references say pink or light red, which amounts to pink. I wonder if later references ran into some confusion with back-translating 'American Beauty'?

I don't see any HMF references saying pale pink or light pink. The reference from Otto was translated from the German, "zart rosa", which was translated here as tender pink, but could also be translated as soft or delicate pink... not necessarily pale. I've added a few other early references to this comments section; it seems that it was a delicate lilac pink with whitish petal reverses.

It's a lovely illustration, but I'd guess it's of another rose, and doesn't belong with this record...

Thanks,
Virginia

P.S. I see at least one instance of Belle Américaine being treated as American Beauty in the May 1887 issue of Journal des Roses, p.74:
Cependant il y a quelques années, on a encore en Amérique, comme j'ose le soutenir, trouvé bon et profitable de faire paraître sur la scène des roses comme Belle Américaine (American Beauty), une rose française d'une bonne réputation et d'une supériorité reconnue: Madame Ferdinand Jamain (Ledéchaux 1875)...

P.P.S. It occurs to me that some of the Prairie Roses raised by Feast and Pierce in America had 'Herbemont's Musk Cluster' as a parent.