Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel, first published in 1895. Taking place during the American Civil War, it is the story about Henry Fleming, a young soldier of the Union Army, who flees from the battlefield. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a “red badge of courage”. Having escaped into a nearby forest, he finds a group of injured men returning from the battle. A “tattered soldier” asks him where he is wounded, but he dodges the question. Among the group is Jim Conklin, who has been shot in the side and is suffering delirium from blood-loss. Jim eventually dies of the injury, defiantly resisting aid from his friend. Henry runs away from the injured soldiers and joins a retreating column that is in disarray. In the panic that ensues, a man hits Henry on the head with his rifle, wounding him. Exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and now wounded, Henry returns to his regiment, regardless of his shame. At the camp, other soldiers believe that his injury resulted from a grazing bullet during battle. They take care of him and dress his wound. The Red Badge of Courage received widespread acclaim shortly after its publication, making Crane an instant celebrity at the age of twenty-four. Adapted several times for the screen, the novel became a bestseller. Avoidance of political, military, and geographic details of the conflict between the states, and the omission of dates and names of places and battles, effectively shift attention away from historical patterns in order to concentrate on the emotional violence of battle in general.

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