Stephen Crane

On June 5, 1900, Stephen Crane, American novelist (Red Badge of Courage), died at the age of 28. From the article:

"'Red Badge of Courage'
In 1895, Crane published what would become his most famous novel, The Red Badge of Courage. A work that followed an individual soldier's emotional experiences in the midst of a Civil War battle, Courage became renowned for its perceived authenticity and realistic depictions of violent conflict. Crane had in fact never been in military combat, constructing scenes from research and what he referred to as skirmishes on the football field.

Due to Crane's new reputation as a war writer, as well as his curiosity about his accuracy in depicting psychological states of combat, he undertook a new career: war correspondent. In 1897, Crane set sail for Cuba to report on the insurrection there. However, after the ship on which he was traveling, the SS Commodore, sank, Crane spent more than a day adrift with three other men. His account of the ordeal resulted in one of the world's great short stories, "The Open Boat."

Final Years
Unable to get to Cuba, in April 1898 Crane went to Greece to report on the Greco-Turkish War, taking with him Cora Taylor, a former brothel proprietor married to an aristocratic captain who would refuse to give her a divorce. (Crane and Taylor would come to be recognized as common-law spouses.) After an armistice was signed between Greece and Turkey in May of that year, Crane and Taylor left Greece for England. Crane had continued to write, publishing two books of poetry as well as George's Mother in 1896, The Third Violet in 1897 and Active Service in 1899. But mostly negative reviews of every novel since Courage caused his literary reputation to dwindle. Despite Courage being in its 14th printing, Crane was running out of money partially due to an ostentatious lifestyle.

On top of his mounting financial troubles, Crane's health had been deteriorating for a few years; he had contracted everything from malaria to yellow fever during his Bowery years and time as a war correspondent. In May 1900, Crane, along with Cora Taylor, checked into a health spa on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany. One month later, on June 5, 1900, Stephen Crane died of tuberculosis at the age of 28, the same age at which his sister Agnes had passed.

The biography Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire was published in 2014 by scholar Paul Sorrentino, an expert on Crane who's focused on presenting a nuanced look at the writer's life."