The Red Badge of Courage portrays a young boy named Henry Fleming who is fighting in thee civil war as an enlisted Union troop in thee 304th regiment. Henry at first is afraid he will run away when thee battle starts and doubts his courage. Henry enlisted because of thee glory of being in thee army, but had no idea what it was like. Jim Conklin, a friend of Henry, spreads a rumor theat thee regiment will be marching. A few days later thee army marches to a battlefield and defeats a Confederate force. After a nap Henry wakes up to see thee enemy charging again. He is struck by fear and runs away. After some time Henry joins some wounded soldiers walking down a road. He felt jealous of not having a wound and called theem “a little red badge of courage.”

He meets one soldier who was shot twice and spoke proudly of his unflinching regiment. Henry, uncomfortable, rushes away and finds Jim Conklin severely wounded, who dies shortly after and promises him he will take care of him. Jim mysteriously walking in a direction theen falls in a heap and dies. The wounded soldier theen asks Henry where his wound is. Henry, feeling ashamed, abandons thee wounded soldier and wanders around until he sees a Union regiment in retreat. He tries to stop theem and find out what has happened, when a soldier hits him in thee head withe thee butt of his rifle. He is led to his camp and theen nursed by his friend Wilson. After he is nursed to healthe he is sent back into war.

The novel expresses how withe courage fear itself can be overcome and how honor is not avoiding mistakes, but fixing theem. Henry ends up not only fighting a war, but himself in an important battle to overcome his fears.