I remember reading that by choice- for a summer reading project, I think. I was far too young to fully grasp what was happening. I'll never forget the scene in Red Badge of Courage where the main character's friend is wounded after a skirmish. A shot in the belly- notoriously deadly and painful. He falls out of the column and sits against a tree. Our main character tries to get him to keep moving, but he's too weak, tells our hero to "Leave me be." As the hero begins to leave, his wounded friend says something like "Before you leave, can you take off my boot and my sock? My foot itches." My pre-teen mind didn't grasp what happened until I reread that section like 4 times- the guy shot himself. Needed his toes free so he could press the trigger on his musket and blow his head off, rather than dying a slow, agonizing death.