Summary
Summary of Mark Twain’s “A Private History of a Campaign That Failed”
Mark Twain’s “A Private History of a Campaign That Failed” is set back in the 1860’s during the Civil War in
Missouri. This short story is about Mark Twain’s experience as a second lieutenant during the war, and his firsthand account of what he had done, or not done in this case during the war. While he was visiting his hometown in Missouri, it was beginning to be invaded by the Union Forces, and the governor ordered that the militia repel the invader (Twain 1). A few soldiers, including him got together and formed a small military group and called themselves the Marion Rangers. This military group was not the normal kind of a military group. The soldiers were not disciplined rough men, rather young inexperienced men.
The group of soldiers set out near the Mississippi River to do whatever they could to help in the war effort and protect their land. The young men were very scared and did not have experience with fighting in war, so most did not know what they were doing. The men set up military camps in the woods, and stayed at random farm houses during their mission to repel the invader. While the military group was searching for their enemy random people would stop by their camp to let them know that the enemy was approaching, or near, so they could move their camp elsewhere.
During the story the men seemed to hide from their enemy rather than fight them until one night. During this night the military group was informed that their enemy was approaching, however they decided not to move camp and stayed right where they were. That night they heard hooves coming toward their camp, and suddenly all the men were pointing their guns out of their hut and once the person on horseback approached their camp someone yelled, “Fire!” (Twain 11) Mark Twain was one of the men who had fired his gun, but he thought he was the only one that had fired his gun, which struck the stranger, and knocked him off his horse. When the men approached the stranger they found that he was just that, a stranger, not a soldier, and not their enemy. The men had recklessly fired at an innocent person who was not in uniform, or armed, and he was dead.
Mark Twain was very guilty about killing the man, but soon found out he had not been the only soldier that fired at the man, so his guilt lessoned since he might not have killed him. After rumor of an actual general coming to join their group, General Grant, about half of the military group had had enough of war, and decided to leave including Mark Twain. So, Mark Twain joined the army to make a difference during the war, and ended up quitting and leaving the war before it had ended, or even began for that matter.