The Red Badge of Courage

It was a predilection of the narrative arts in the 19th century to make war seem heroic and blustery, full of soldiers of super-human bravery, led by steely, intelligent commanders who take warfare to a pinnacle of chess-like perfection. This predilection never went away; it continues to be the chief concern of many video games and novels in our own time. As in the 19th century, such tales flatter and mythologize powerful interests and even raise army recruitment levels.

In Stephen Crane’s day, the Civil War was a generational memory, fought by men 35 years in the past. The American Civil War was especially bloody. It tore at an existential fabric in the reality of the United States, one that is still felt in the 21st century. At the same time, the American Civil War featured the trial run for new and terrible forms of mass extermination technology that would play a role in the conflicts of the 20th century; it was during this war, for instance, that repeating rifles were introduced, increasing killing efficiency over muzzle-loading rifles. To add to the horror, much of the military elite stuck to 18th-century Napoleonic-era massed formation techniques that caused unprecedented casualties.