The Ballad of the Late Johnny Colter

The Ballad of the Late Johnny Colter is a semi-fictional war novel, written by Hannedy Smith. It is considered to be the first true literary achievement of the young Esmarian nation, being critical praised across the world. It tells the story of a group of friends who are drafted into the Esmarian Civil War in 1311. The de facto leader of the group is the eponymous Johnny Colter, who is killed early on. The rest of the novel concerns the group as they desert, and do their best to transport their friend's corpse back home. They are forced to tread through hundreds of miles of war-torn countryside.

The novel was first ridiculed for it's "grotesque" depictions of warfare, but it very quickly became extremely popular among combat veterans. The blunt, honest description of battle and warfare in general were extremely unusual at the time, and the intimate relation that is explored among the group was praised.

The author, Hannedy Smith, was himself a veteran of the war, and drew heavily on his own experience of desertion.