America’s entire history is intertwined with war; therefore, war has become a part of the American culture. Even today, it is legal for civilians in the U.S.A. to carry weapons due to the 2nd Amendment of the American Constitution. In the American Civil War (1861-1865), many young men and boys enlisted into the Union or Confederate army due to propaganda which glorified war and promised them certain victory, reputation and financial status after the war. However, there is another truth concerning war which is mostly omitted: every side has casualties and every war is terrible. This paper analyzes the first American anti-war novel, The Red Badge of Courage (1895) by Stephen Crane, and Cold Mountain (1997) by Charles Frazier. In these novels, the protagonist soldiers are portrayed as men who experience the horrors of war: they are transformed by the pain they experience and the many meaningless deaths they witness. They reject romanticized notions of war heroism and they wage psychological battles with themselves and their fears. They are portrayed as normal human beings, full of weaknesses and strengths, to whom the readers can relate. Finally, they serve as a reminder to the reader that there is neither glory nor romance in war, that there is no honor in killing others and that there is no soldier without weaknesses and fears.