Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage

I have been reading the The Red Badge of Courage.
I a quite interested by the author.
I looked up on the internet and found that he, Stephen Crane, did not actually joined the American Civil War. Infact, he joined the war between America and Mexico.
I don't know why he wrote this book.

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Can any one tell me why did Stephen Crane wrote the The Red Badge of Courage not talking about the Mexico War but the American Civil War and the main character isn't himself either? What is his motif of writing this book?

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Originally Posted by lkkcpaul

I have been reading the The Red Badge of Courage.
I a quite interested by the author.
I looked up on the internet and found that he, Stephen Crane, did not actually joined the American Civil War. Infact, he joined the war between America and Mexico.
I don't know why he wrote this book.

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I believe he wrote the book before the Spanish-American war. You have your timeline incorrect. I'm just going by memory here:
Mexican-American War ~ 1830's (Don't know the exact year)
Civil War ~ 1860-65
Spanish-American War ~ 1898, I think

Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage around 1895. The Civil War was a devastating event in American history which effected the nation for a long time. And I don't beleive Crane served as a soldier in the Spanish-American War. I think he was a correspondent.