In chapt. 5, Crane notes the neither the men nor the officer were in "heroic" or "picturesque" poses. Why might that be impo. to a reader?

This is a critical thinking question; you don't need the text. Think about what the men knew of war prior to being there; think about what you would know about war if there were no media to document each and every horrific scene. What you'd know would be the pictures you'd seen or the stories you'd have heard. Picture paintings of the Civil or Revolutionary Wars; think back to the artwork that portrayed war and soldiers for century on canvas and in sketches..... the soldiers are heroic......... there are often officers in full dress uniform unsullied, not a bit of dirt on them. Years ago these are the pictures a young man would glorify.......... in real life this doesn't happen.