Analytical Thesis

"Mr. Fleming," said the grocer--his deferential voice expressed somehow
the old man's exact social weight--"Mr. Fleming, you never was
frightened much in them battles, was you?"

The veteran looked down and grinned. Observing his manner, the entire
group tittered. "Well, I guess I was," he answered finally. "Pretty well
scared, sometimes. Why, in my first battle I thought the sky was falling
down. I thought the world was coming to an end. You bet I was scared."

Stephen Crane's character, Mr. Fleming says that he was very afraid. This quote is saying that war is chaos. Chaos is complete and utter pandemonium to the point where it may seem as if "the sky was falling down." The sky falling down would signify the end of our world entirely and the destruction of our species. So when the author said that war is like the sky falling down, he is saying that war is destruction.