Courage to sacrifice love for American war (6)
I believe the answer is:
battle
'war' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for battle that I've seen before include "Struggle tenaciously" , "Midway" , "Eg, Bosworth, Blenheim" , "Lengthy struggle" , "Conflict, fight" .)