The Red Badge of Courage

When we play chess, what is always the first piece we sacrifice to achieve victory? The pawn, of course. The front line soldier that is always expendable. I am not that great a chess player but in my somewhat lacking strategies, I have even often used my pawn as bait to try and draw out my opponent's "more valuable" pieces into a trap. Nevermind what happens to that poor pawn. In this Civil War novel, …

…has to be the actual one to lay all that on the line by fighting the battle. Kudos to Mr. Crane, who wrote this book despite being born after the Civil War, for having a keen ear to the stories of the common footsoldiers who, as veterans, gave him a vivid glimpse of what it is like to be sent into battle by men on horses who didn't really care whether they lived or died