September 29, 2014
John Callanan
“Red Badge of Courage”
The story is about a young Union soldier named Henry whose courage is very questionable and during the battle he redeems himself and finds his courage. The story is fictional written by Stephen Crane who was a Union soldier during the Civil War but never saw combat. Though the book was not accepted in the United States when first written it got very high acclaims in England afterwards the U.S. public gave the book their approval and book sales rose. Everyone thought that Crane was an experienced writer which he was not.
One evening when Henry was on guard duty a confederate soldier on the other side of the river told him to get out of the moonlight or otherwise would receive a little red badge. Henry understood this to mean a gunshot wound and retreated into the shadows and thanked the Confederate soldier.
The young man upon hearing they may be going into battle describes his fears as he writes his father and explains that he hopes to make him proud in the upcoming battle. He then asks his father to let his mother know gently if he should fall in battle. The story some say was the Battle of Chancellorsville. When the marching orders are given to the solders Henry is fearful he will not hold the line as described in the orders. Upon the first charge he does hold and then on the second charge he turns and runs. He then runs into a group of wounded soldiers walking away from the battle. When one of the wounded soldiers asks him where he is injured Henry cannot answer.
As he continues to walk he spots a friend from his regiment named Jim Conklin. Jim is wounded and Henry promises to take care of him. Jim runs off into a field and is followed by both Henry another soldier. Suddenly Jim falls and dies.
Henry runs again and sees General Grant sitting on his horse talking to his officers. The sight of the general causes him to keep running. He meets with another group of soldiers who are running from battle and Henry tries to find out what happened to his regiment. The soldier he is talking to wants only to keep running and clubs Henry over the head with his musket causing Henry to black out. When Henry awakes and begins to wander aimlessly he meets another soldier who helps him find his regiment. When Henry returns to his regiment he realizes that no one is aware of his cowardice.
Henry’s regiment is called up to the front again. As they march towards battle Henry tells the others what he going to do to the enemy when he encounters them. On the front line he shows his courage and foolishness by chasing the enemy with no one to back him. The lieutenant informs him if he had fifty more like him he could win the battle. As the scene progresses the regiment charges and the flag bearer goes down. Henry drops his rifle and grabs the flag. He charges ahead with no thought of his own safety. At first the regiment is hesitant with Henry leading the charge. Henry shouts at then to charge and they follow his lead up the hill towards the rock wall that the Confederate soldiers are trying to hold. The Confederate soldiers are overrun and captured.
In the next scene the Union soldiers and the Confederate soldiers begin talking to each other. Henry overhears his fellow soldiers speaking and discovers through their conversation that his Colonel had spoken about him being a real fighter. Henry suddenly realizes what he had done when he lead the charge. Later on he admits to his friend that he deserted and his friend opens up as well and tells Henry he too was going to desert but was stopped by the lieutenant. Being stopped from deserting and staying on to fight the battle is simply being a soldier and following orders.
In Henry’s case he returned to his regiment willingly, he found his bravery through rage and led the charge without thoughts of his own safety. And not until he overheard his fellow soldiers talking about him did he realize he had redeemed himself and found his courage.
The textbook “Why We Fought” by Rollins and O’Conner states that movies are grouped into three categories. They are fiction, semi –historical and historical. According to the textbook when television was in its infancy and screens were small people tended to feel like they were part of the movie and the characters being portrayed. The “Red Badge of Courage” is a combination of both fiction and history. While it portrays the Civil War and the soldiers who so bravely and not so bravely who fought in it, we do not really know who those soldiers were or the actual battle this movie reenacts. While some people suspect this may have been the Battle of Chancellorsville there is really no proof.