About the Book: The Red Badge of Courage and Other Stories
Stephen Cranes 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