Why does Henry enlist?

Like many other young men of the period--in both the North
and the South--Henry got caught up in the possible glory to be won on the battlefield.
It would be a great adventure and he would serve his country like the patriotic boy he
was.

Tales of
great movements shook the land. They might not be distinctly Homeric, but there seemed
to be much glory in them. He had read of marches, sieges, conflicts, and he had longed
to see it all. His busy mind had drawn for him large pictures extravagant in color,
lurid with breathless
deeds.

However, his mother
tried in vain to discourage him, but at last Henry made the decision to enlist. She
cried as he left his home for what she worried would be the last
time.

Henry's greatest worry was how he would react once he
was under fire for the first time. Men talked of heroic deeds they would perform on the
battlefield, but others wondered if they would run under the pressure of the Confederate
guns. Henry was not alone in his thoughts. The Tall Soldier expressed his own worries
telling Henry that he would probably run if everyone else ran, but that he would
certainly stand and fight if his comrades did the same.