In Crane's story, Fleming enlists in the Union army with dreams of becoming a great military hero, only to find that the realities of war are much different from his expectations. Curry's success in rendering youth as more than a cardboard cut-out was noticed by Limited Editions Club's publisher, George Macy. He wrote to the artist: "...you have given the reader more than he can ask, in supplementing the author's emotional imprint with your own; because you have made a portrait of Henry which is a completely realized face."