The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is an impressionistic novel by American author Stephen Crane. Narrated by the fictional Henry Fleming, a recruit in the American Civil War, it is about the meaning of courage.

Although Crane was born after the war and had never seen battle himself, the novel is one of the most influential American war stories ever written. Crane met and spoke with a number of veterans as a student and he created what is widely regarded as an unusually realistic depiction of a young man in battle.

His writing is notable for its detached and critical style, often addressing uncomfortable issues on a deeply psychological level in a way that was ground-breaking in the genre. Though Crane never names the battle in which Fleming participates, it is said in the sequel to The Red Badge of Courage, The Veteran, that Henry was fighting in the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. The battle was won by the Confederacy. There is a slight hint to the battle in The Red Badge of Courage when Henry wishes to say "All quiet on the Rappahannock" during combat as a joke to his comrades. This is in reference to the Rappahannock River, located adjacent to the site of the Battle of Chancellorsville.

The book was adapted into a film of the same name by John Huston in 1951 starring Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, and again in a made-for-television version starring Richard Thomas that appeared in 1974.

(From wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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