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Civil War Progression

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Mahwah, New Jersey:  Watermill Press, 1981
(written in 1893)

     War is terrifying under the best of circumstances, but the American Civil War subjected soldiers on both sides to particularly trying circumstances and conditions.  Union and Confederate soldiers shared a common heritage and language, and occasionally camped so close together they exchanged greetings across enemy lines. 
     Stephen Crane describes the experiences of one young soldier who enlists voluntarily, but flees the battlefield in his first engagement.  Crane describes Henry's inner turmoil as he wrestles with both his guilt and fear in deciding whether to return. 
     The book includes several vivid descriptions of men engaged in battle. 

Comment
     While The Red Badge of Courage is considered one of the classic Civil War novels, with the possible exception of the conversations among the soldiers of opposing sides, the conditions it describes are not unique. While the Civil War provides the historical backdrop, Crane does not focus on the causes or even the history of the Civil War per se.  Thus, if the educational objective is to teach the causes leading to Civil War, the history of specific battles, or the overall history of the Civil War itself, there are many other books that will be more effective.
     Stephen Crane wrote the book in 1893 when he was only 22 years old.  While he was too young to have personally participated in the War, the War itself concluded less than thirty years earlier.  Thus, the language used in the book is specific to the period it describes.  While that is one of the books charms and adds to its sense of authenticity, it also can make conversations among the soldiers a bit hard to follow.

Reading Level:  8
Interest Level:  Young Adult +
192 pages

Supports the Following Instructional Objectives:

Describe the Cultural, Political and Military Progression of Events in the Civil War

Excerpt

     The youth fell back in the procession until the tattered soldier was not in sight.  Then he started to walk on with the others.
     But he was amid wounds.  The mob of men was bleeding.  Because of the tattered soldier's question he now felt that his shame could be viewed.  He was continually casting sidelong glances to see if the men were contemplating the letters of guilt he felt burned into his brow.
     At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way.  He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy.  He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.

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