In order for Henry to find out what his purpose in the war was, he had to run away.

• In the end, the comment made by the lieutenant. The words that the lieutenant said were ‘"By heavens, if I had ten thousand wild cats like you I could tear th' stomach outa this war in less'n a week!"’ (Crane 17.20). The meaning of this quote is; if i had ten thousand men like you, this war would be won in less than a week. That means that the lieutenant appreciates what Henry has done for him and his country. Henry feels a lot better about himself now. He how believes that he has the ability to do anything he sets his mind to. That is a lesson in life that everyone will learn. One man can make a difference. To a Lieutenant, to show that you want to fight for your life, can mean the difference to him. It could cause you to move up in rank also.

• The comment made by the tattered soldier. The comment was ‘"Where yeh hit, ol' boy?"’ (Crane 8.40). When Henry is asked this by the tattered soldier, he is just shocked. Not so much that he is shocked by him asking the question, but because he had been talking to this man the whole time, not thinking about him being injured. Henry just thought of himself as a coward the whole time. He didn't realize until the end that he could do anything he wanted to. When him and Wilson went over and captured the flag from the enemy, that took a lot of courage also. he found it in himself to take control of that. He also realized the amount of respect he gained from not running away. He also realized that he didn't need to recieve the Red Badge of Courage to be noticed as a man who was magnificent in the war.

• Henry’s connection to the squirrel. Henry sees a squirrel and throws a pinecone at it. ‘“He threw a pine cone at a jovial squirrel, and he ran with chattering fear.”’ (Crane 7.14). Right then and there, when the squirrel runs away, that was just like what Henry was doing. Henry was the squirrel getting a pine cone thrown at him. He was not the only squirrel in the woods running away from all the pine cones being thrown at him though. He figured out though that it does more good than harm to fight without fear. Everyone runs away from something in life, just like the squirrel. You find out what you need to do, and it's not the same for everyone.