The Little Regiment and Other Civil War Stories

by Stephen Crane

In his brief but productive lifetime, Stephen Crane (1871–1900) wrote vividly and sensitively about a variety of subjects. In his work he displayed a rare ability to combine astute characterization, colorful settings, and an ironic tone in memorable tales offering perceptive explorations of human psychology and motivation.
He is perhaps famous as author of The Red Badge of Courage , the quintessential Civil War classic. However, Crane wrote seven other stories involving this monumental conflict. All are gathered together in this volume. They include "A Mystery of Heroism," "A Gray Sleeve," "Three Miraculous Soldiers," "The Little Regiment," "An Indiana Campaign," "An Episode of War," and "The Veteran," which features Henry Fleming, protagonist of The Red Badge of Courage , years after the war.
Attractive and sturdily bound, this modestly priced edition will find an enthusiastic audience among admirers of Crane's work, students of American literature, and Civil War buffs alike. All will enjoy the work of an author now recognized as one of the most innovative, influential writers of his generation — an acknowledged master of the short story.

Genres: Short Stories, Civil War, Fiction, War, Classics, American Civil War, Americana

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American novelist, poet and journalist, best known for the novel, The Red Badge of Courage. That work introduced the reading world to Crane's striking prose, a mix of impressionism, naturalism and symbolism. He died at age 28 in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m reading this collection of Civil War stories by Stephen Crane along with Ambrose Bierce’s Civil War stories, In the Midst of Life. I’d like to see how these writers compare since they wrote their stories within about five years of each other. They are both called realists or naturalists with some distinctions between the terms which I am going to avoid trying to talk about.

Crane wrote a novel and a short novel, The Red Badge of Courage before these stories. Born after the war ended, he never saw a battle. Journalism was his livelihood and it evidently taught him to interview sources, in this case veterans and civilians who lived through it all. I’m impressed that he really does a good job and everything seems right. I preferred the stories here that are told in third person and which kept dialog to a minimum. The “common” dialog feels caricatured, at least by today’s standards.

The title story is my favorite. The action, and often the lack of action reveal tensions probably common to all soldiers in times where battle was done at close quarters. The feeling of being lost is shown with two antagonistic brothers who are actually miserable if one or the other is missing. The tension is amplified by foggy weather, darkness, the misery of cold and mud, and the continual waiting, waiting, waiting. And then there are the brief violent clashes with the mostly unseen enemy. Other stories deal with loss and misery for civilians.

The effects of war are “realistic,” not glorified or heroic and not about high moral purpose. They’re definitely a step away from earlier depictions of war in literature.

[Olivia's Bookish Places & Spaces]

Read this story for my summer course. While I generally don't read that many war stories, this one was well written and had an unexpected ending.

[Albus Eugene Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore · Rating 4 out of 5]

[anobii, Apr, 2016]
“Ehilà, Dan” … “Ehilà, Billie” …
Fredericksburg, dicembre 1862. Civil War. Dan e Billie sono arruolati nello stesso reggimento unionista. I due fratelli combatteranno insieme ai loro commilitoni e saranno sconfitti dalle truppe confederate. Le perdite saranno così elevate che per i sopravvissuti, da quel momento la loro unità sarà … The Little Regiment.
Relazione fatta di ostilità e indifferenza ostentate, quella dei due fratelli, ma quando Dan non rientra da un’azione …
Crane descrive, ancora una volta, caos e morte, ma non trascura, come aveva già fatto con Il segno rosso del coraggio, di raccontarci la profondità e la ricchezza dei sentimenti di uomini comuni, pur costretti dalla guerra ad accettare giorno dopo giorno l’assenza di significato tra vita e morte.
Se proprio la morte non se lo fosse portato via a soli 28 anni, ci avrebbe senz’altro regalato tante altre piccole magie letterarie.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short collection of stories by Stephen Crane taking place in the Civil War. The focus is on those who usually remain nameless (and too this end, many of the characters in the stories are not named) as well as those that history forgets about. A reoccurring them is the sameness or common humanity despite being on different sides of a conflict. It isn’t just the soldiers that Crane draws attention to but those left at home as well. There are several mediations on the meaning of heroism.

[AndreaMarretti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Di nuovo e ancora.
Casomai ce ne fosse la necessità eccomi di nuovo a pensare al grande culo di imbattersi nel classico libriccino alla libreria dell'usato che poi libriccino non è anche se devo dire di averlo sospettato, visto che era stato scritto da Stephen Crane.
Si tratta di cinque brevi racconti dove si assiste al miracolo di cui ha parlato Hemingway e cioè al fatto di raccontare con la fantasia i fatti più veri del vero visto che pare di assistere ad un grande affresco impressionista della guerra di secessione, raccontata osservando aspetti diversi di vicende diverse.
Sono bellissimi (in particolare "il piccolo reggimento" e "strano eroismo") e mi pare incredibile vista la statura e le poche pagine del libro: non oso pensare cosa avrebbe potuto scrivere questo autore se non fosse morto tanto giovane.
Per me un GRANDE, comunque.

[Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

6/5, p.43, Short story perfection- stunningly deep exploration of humanity in war

[E. Merrill Brouder · Rating 3 out of 5]

From what I understand, Crane wrote most of these stories at the request of his editors and not of his own volition. This probably explains why the stories often lack the startling style and ethical urgency that one expects from Crane. This also probably explains why, in this collection, the shorter stories are the better stories... and some of them are quite powerful. (I distinctly remember bawling at the end of "The Veteran" when I first read it in middle school, shortly after the death of my own idol, my grandfather; the story moves me still.)

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crane is at his best writing about people dangling over the edge.

"A Mystery of Heroism" actually reminded me a scene in Nate Philbrick's "The Last Stand," which I just completed. After Reno's initial attack on the Native village, he retreats to Reno's Hill and meets up with Benteen's battalion, where they are laid siege to by Cheyenne and Lakota warriors. After a summer's day of fighting, most are without water. The book details anecdotes of soldiers creeping down the river to fetch canteens of water, much like our "hero" Fred in Crane's story.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Little regiment is a little book in size, but not in stature. These stories about the American Civil War have a ring of authenticity, of experience. There are explosions, there are artillery barrages and there is shooting and death. But there are several poignant observations of people who are caught up on the edges of the conflict. Under the pressure that threat creates, these people do things they would otherwise reject: they do things they would otherwise find embarrassing or stupid. But they do them.

And in many ways it is the stories in this collection that are set away from the battlefield itself that provide the telling, the enduring images.

Above all, Stephen Crane’s rather stilted but beautiful prose brings a period air and a poetic vision to his characters.

[Mark Luongo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last book of 2017. A collection of short stories by Stephen Crane. "The Veteran" features Henry Fleming the protagonist of "The Red Badge of Courage."

[Doug Lind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

I'm very impressed that Crane can write this well about the war years later. Easy to picture what you think.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is fascinating how Crane gives the sense of being at war when he never was.

This is a quick read of little stories.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book for hiking. Lightweight but big words so you read it slowly. Unfortunately the suspense of the action leads you to rush through it which also means you miss what are, according the back jacket and I believe it, some excellent descriptive sections and impressionistic imagery. Instead what you get caught on is the weird, weird dialogue. Surely the women's manner of speaking especially is pure invention.

[Michael Burhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of little vignettes from the Civil War. Most not related to each other fully, but each adding toigheter to make you understand the feelings of the common soldier in the war.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still looking for great Civil War literature. Few seem to get this or and 9/11 just right. Don't know why.