a work of the imagination, unbased on personal experience, its realism would be nothing short of a miracle said Brooks. Crane was able to create vivid battle scenes from everything to the accurate sound of cannons and guns shots, to the thoughts that a soldier went through. "At that moment, rapid firing in the distance sent shock waves through the troops. Flashes of enemy musket and rifle fire scattered the skirmishers advancing ahead of them. Then and explosion from a Confederate cannon landed on the regiment in front of the 304th and sent bodies flying" (Crane 46). Crane's imaginative effort remains a marvel. Many have sought after him with the question of how he was able to so flawlessly depict vivid battle scenes. Crane claimed that his source was the football field. In college Crane was distinguished for his exceptional ability on the baseball diamond and the football field. Crane took his experiences as an athlete, the adrenaline rushes, the fights, the victories, the defeats and channeled them to make a war novel. Much of the impact of Red Badge at the time arose from its powerful pictures of war, the powerful and involving images that leapt off the page into the mind of the reader. "Screaming shells were whizzing into the grove, sending branches and leaves down on the heads of the regiment hiding there" (Crane 49). Edward Garnett said it best when he said "On re-reading Red Badge, I am more than ever struck by the
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