Chapter Summary: The First Battle Of War

Henry’s confidence does not last for a long time. The realities of the battle become a reality and cause his fear and doubt to reappear. Henry goes from being happy because he was able to fight the enemy in the first battle to being anxious at the beginning of a second

Henry points out the fact that they are strong enough to win the battle if they would get up and just try rather than sitting around. Henry claims that God has provided them with the power and strength to fight their enemy.

As Henry is trying to find ways to justify running from the battle, he happens to overhear a few men talking about the very same battle. His side had won, and Henry is faced with the harsh truth, Henry ran out of fear. Not because he though that the soldiers fighting alongside him would lose, but because he was afraid only for his own life. As he is thinking about all of this, Henry finally comes across other soldiers. As he inspects them more closely however, he notices that they are all badly wounded. Still trying to escape the battle, he joins

Moving closer to the battle, Henry, the rookie private with a lack of self-confidence and courage, starts thinking if he should run away from a battle or fight in the battle. With a lack of war experience, he feels insecure going to battle and does not know what to do. He starts to ask his fellow soldiers on their thoughts and opinions about running away from a battle as he felt cowardliness of doing so. He also asked one

Henry fights along the other soldiers in the first battle but flees in the second because he might be scared. Henry saw and fought in the first battle but didn't flee because he didn't see what he did the first time around. It was his first time fighting in a war or battle with other people. He remembered what his mother said before he left and wanted to see her again. He might have thought that if he didn't flee he wouldn't have a wife or kids or a family later on in life.

When faced with adversities early into his first battle, he quickly reconsidered his views on war and courage. By running away from the face of battle, Henry “saw his vivid error, and he was afraid that it would stand before him all his life” (Cane 24.30).  This pushed him into believing that he would never be a man of courage of masculinity. This “error” of running away caused Henry to be angry at himself for mistakenly thinking the battle was over and abandoning his fellow soldiers. While away from the battle Henry discovers “that he had a scorching thirst” and “his body was calling for food” (Cane 11.21). From the struggle of war and the experience of Wilson, Henry learns to reflect upon his life and learn from his mistakes, rather than being angry at himself. This allowed Henry to be influenced by the culture around him, shaping him into acknowledging that courage was not depicted by a gunshot or a wound, but by the act of adhering to the line of duty and learning from your

But in the second battle Henry flees from his comrades while they held the line as the rebels tried to push them out. The regiment ended up being the victors of the second battle too. But Henry was worried about what the other soldiers would say to him since he ran away from the battle. I believe Henry was always afraid of battle even before it started and when the enemy came sprinting towards him he was shocked and started to flee.

When the men regroup for the second attack, many of the Union soldiers around henry begin to run away. Henry gives into the pressure and joins in the retreat, he wasn’t prepared for the horror that war brings. As he’s running, he seems to observe everyone else around him. He sees his captain lying stretched on the ground, dead, the babbling man was grazed by a shot to the head, and another man grunted as he was struck in the stomach, along with many others that just started dropping to the ground. As Henry ran, he feared for his life that he was going to be struck in the back, but he continued running. The thought of self-preservation seemed more important to him than fighting with selflessness and bravery along with the other

But the advance did not stop there. Much to their dismay, the Confederates charged again. This time, some of the weary and battered soldiers fled the battle scene afraid for their lives, Henry included. As the story deviates from the battle to Henry, the roars of war die down as well. After fleeing, Henry wandered about in a small forest, only to come across a clearing containing several horseback generals speaking excitedly to each other about the second victory. Ashamed with himself, Henry slowly walked back in the direction in which he came from, not wanting to face his regiment. But during his return trip, he discovered two things: a wounded procession of retreating soldiers and another large group of soldiers running away from something. After meeting and leaving the first group, Henry tried to stop one of the soldiers who was running, but the man, clearly in a hurry, brought up his rifle and whacked Henry over the head, causing him to let go, and stumble about, dazed and injured from the blow. At last, a soldier from his regiment discovered him, and slowly lead him back their camp, where he was given a blanket and a space in a tent to

In the first battle, Henry is shown as young and naive. He really did not understand what was about to happen around him. While he was scared at first, when the enemy started getting closer, he forgot about being scared and just started shooting. Part 2 of chapter 5 states that "He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate." Henry saw many soldiers die during this first battle. As things kept going, his emotions changed from scared, to excited, to angry, to sad, and then to surprised. He was amazed at everything that had happened during the first battle.

In the first battle, Henry fights along side the other soldiers. At this time, Henry is feeling confidant in his fighting skills and counted on his fellow soldiers to do their job. The narrator says, "He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which he was apart- a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country - was in a crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire". In this quote, it talks about how he feels that he believes in his regiment. He isn't so selfish, he believes he is no longer an individual with regiments, they work as a whole person. In the second battle, it's different, he flees with the regiment.

Henry fights along with the other soldiers in the first battle, yet he flees from the scene when the second battle ensues. Henry had a confusing opinion about the battles being fought. He believed that the first battle was a sure fire win and that the second battle was a complicated one to win. The battles were both very different.

“The Youth,” which Henry is referred to as, dreamt of glory in battle and being a hero (Crane 2). That is the reason why Henry enlisted himself; even though he told his comrades he was forced to be in the army. His mother’s farewell speech is ironic because he thought that she would give him a tearful and long speech, but all she really said was to “Watch out, and be a good boy” (4). She does not want Henry to be a hero even though that is what he went to war for. She told Henry that she will be fine if he does not return home. Henry tries to pull off being a confident and good soldier, while in the reality he is very nervous about what will happen in battle. Throughout the novel, he questions his courage and if he would run from battle. At an early battle, Henry continuously fires at the enemy line and feels like he is a courageous soldier. However, soon after this battle, another one erupts and Henry runs from it. This is

He described that he couldn’t escape even if he wanted to. Through this analogy, the reader can see that Henry is reducing the soldiers to unthinking, unfeeling machines, performing their duty without taking into account the threat of injury or death. As he looks around at the faces of the rest of the soldiers in his regiment, he notices their focused commitment to the firing of their rifles. He wonders if he is the only one faced with questions of morality. While the regiment began to advance, Henry was shocked to receive a packet of letters from Wilson, who feared he would die in battle. After the battle, he is glad that he made it through the first day. He begins to lose the romantic vision of war by seeing the realities, but he starts lying to himself about who is really is.

The next day Henry makes a routine for the army to do. So he shows them how to do it and for 5 hours they practice which formation to get to during a certain situation they practice how to aim and shoot well and how they will march into battle. For the rest of the week they did the same thing until it was drilled into their heads. The following week it was all about working as a team to have each other back and how we can win the war but protect our army at the same time. It was like a perfection after 2 weeks. It has been three weeks and there is 2 weeks until the battle and they got for information on the rebellion army they are planning to separate into 4 groups and surround the U.S army. So after this Henry started to think that we can set a trap on them. He finally came up with the idea and told his army. The idea was that we will tell one of the spies that they spotted us in a certain area and we will hope and take their position but then we won't be there and in a minute we would have to attack them from behind. It was a good idea but they had to time it perfectly so the rebellions don't get time to think and realize what was happening. They had week to prepare for this and Henry took every minute seriously if anyone would screw up he would make them step out of the group and give him a punishment. He started to act like a real General now. He wasn't thinking negative anymore it was all positive but he still had a little bit of