161 Ambrose Bierce Facts Learn About The Soldier Who Became A Writer

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was a veteran of the Civil War.Ambrose Bierce was an American journalist, satirist, wit, and war stories writer. He was born in Meigs County, Ohio, on 24 June, 1842, and died in Mexico in 1914.Ambrose was the 10th child of Marcus Aurelius and Laura Sherwood Bierce out of 13. Ambrose Bierce was of pure English descent: all of his ancestors came to America from 1620-1640 as part of the Great Puritan Migration. His parents were poor farmers who struggled to provide food and clothing to their children. Ambrose spent most of his childhood farming under his mother’s disciplined supervision. He received very little formal education. His father, on the other hand, loved to read books, and young Ambrose borrowed many books from his father’s humble library whenever he could. Thus, literature became the only source of relief from his tough childhood, which he later talked about with great bitterness.Ambrose published two volumes of poetry, ‘Black Beetles in Amber’ and ‘Shapes of Clay’, which were later published as fifth and fourth volumes, respectively, of his collection from 1909-1912. A gifted critic and satirist, his poetry and other works have been featured in newspaper columns for more than 40 years, starting with California. In 1868 he wrote his famous column ‘Town Crier’. He became a celebrity on the California literary scene, befriending Bret Harte, Joaquin Miller, and Mark Twain. Bierce got married on 25 December, 1871 to Mary Ellen Mollie Day. The two had two sons, Day and Leigh, and one daughter named Helen. Bierce got separated from his better half in 1888 after finding a letter of compromise sent to Mollie from an admirer.America was divided into two by the Civil War in early 1861. The country’s northern and southern states have long been angry with each other on various issues. The subject that divides the two sides the most was slavery. Many northerners believed slavery was wrong and wanted to abolish it, but southern culture and economy were inextricably linked to slavery, and southerners resented northern attempts to end the practice. The two countries ended up at war when the southern countries tried to break away from the unions and create their own states.Bierce immediately did volunteer to join the Union Army when Civil War broke out. His appeal is partly due to the anti-slavery beliefs instilled in him by his family. However, Bierce also went to the army because he wanted to escape the rural environment where he had always lived.Ambrose Bierce took part in operations in western Virginia in 1861, and was present at the first organized ground operation of the war, Battle of Philippi, and got the attention of the newspaper for his daring rescue of a comrade who was mortally wounded in the war under fire at Battle of Rich Mountain.In April 1861, he enlisted in C Company of the Ninth Indiana Volunteers and remained in the Union Army until January 1865 when he resigned as a lieutenant. Much of this time he spent under the command of General W. B. Hazen (1830-1887), a loyal officer whom Bierce greatly admired.During his service through the American Civil War, Bierce witnessed many battles. In fact, he participated in some of the worst battles of the war, including the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee in April 1862 and the Battle of Chickamauga in northwestern Georgia in September 1863, a harrowing experience that became the source of several short stories and memoirs, ‘What I Saw of Shiloh’. He fought well in these and other arguments, but later his fellow soldiers told him that sometimes his courage bordered on recklessness. In June 1864, Bierce suffered a severe gunshot wound to the head during heavy fighting in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia. He recovered from his injuries and rejoined military service only to be captured by Confederate soldiers. However, Bierce managed to escape from his captors. He slipped into the forest and returned to the Union Army, one step ahead of his pursuers. In January 1865, he was discharged from the army.Bierce resumed his military career in mid-1866 when he joined General Hazen as part of a military expedition to inspect outposts in the Great Plains. The expedition took place by horse and buggy from Omaha, Nebraska, and reached San Francisco, California, by the end of the year.Ambrose Bierce’s Civil War experiences have profoundly influenced his view of the world around him. The war’s bloody violence and shocking casualties made him naturally suspicious of military and political leaders, and the images and sounds of battle haunted his mind for the rest of his life. Years after the end of the war, Bierce stated that he cannot see the scene without realizing the advantage of the terrain to attack or defend. He has never heard a shot from a rifle without vibration in his veins and has never smelled the strange reek of gunpowder without seeing people die.Bierce’s life was one that was full of drama and tragedy. Read on to know more about him. Do also read our articles on Aeolus facts and Anne Hutchinson facts.Fun Facts About Ambrose BierceHere are some fun and amazing facts that you should know about Bierce.In April 1863, he was appointed the first lieutenant and served at General William Babcock Hazen’s headquarters as a topographical engineer making maps of possible battlefields.Known for his sardonic perspective on human nature, Ambrose Bierce was called ‘Bitter Bierce’.Ambrose Bierce wrote ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’, which is considered a humorous and touching look at everyday life and human nature.The real title of ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’ was ‘The Cynic’s Work Book’.Ambrose Bierce’s short story, ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’, was named America’s greatest short story by Kurt Vonnegut.Ambrose Bierce traveled to Mexico in 1913 to get first-hand experience of the Mexican War of Independence.In October 1913, when Bierce was 71 years old, he left Washington, D.C., to visit his old American Civil War battlefields. According to a few reports, in December, Bierce had crossed Louisiana and Texas via El Paso to Mexico, which was in the agony of a revolution.Ambrose Bierce was said to have accompanied Villa’s army all the way to the city of Chihuahua. One of his close friends said that his last known communication with the world was a letter he wrote to Blanche Partington on 26 December 1913. Ambrose Bierce disappeared without a trace by leaving a letter which stated that he’s leaving for an unknown destination. His disappearance became possibly one of the most famous in the history of American literature. Despite the wealth of theories, Ambrose Bierce’s life and death remained the ultimate mystery.Facts About Ambrose Bierce’s WritingsAmbrose Bierce, during his lifetime, was better known as a journalist than a novelist or fiction writer. His most popular short stories were written sequentially between 1888 and 1891. Bierce wrote realistically about the horrific things he saw during the war in stories such as ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’, ‘One of the Missing’, ‘Chickamauga’ and ‘A Horseman in the Sky’. His cycle of 25 realistic and grim war stories has been called ’the greatest anti-war document in American literature’.Ambrose Bierce published several volumes of poetry except for his war stories and ghost stories. His ‘Fantastic Fables’ predicts the ironic style of the grotesque, which became a wider genre in the 20th century. One of the most famous works is Bierce’s widely quoted ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’, originally an occasional newspaper and first published in book form in 1906 as ‘The Cynic’s Word Book’. Described as a ‘funny howl’, it consists of political satires and double-talks. Ambrose edited ‘The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce’ which is a twelve-volume series, published from 1909 - 1912. The seventh volume consists entirely of ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’.Ambrose Bierce is found in more than 50 novels, short stories, films, television shows, plays, and comics in his literary career. His major books include ‘The Devil’s Dictionary’, ‘Cobwebs from an Empty Skull’, ‘Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California’, and ‘Tales of Soldiers and Civilians’. In addition, the short stories of Ambrose Bierce, ‘An Inhabitant of Carcosa’ and ‘Haita the Shepherd’ is believed to have had an influence on weird tales writer Robert W. Chambers’ tales of ‘The King in Yellow’.At least three movies have been made based on the story of Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’. A silent movie, ‘The Bridge’, was made in 1929. ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’ was broadcasted on American television in 1964 as one of the final episodes of ‘The Twilight Zone’.Facts About Ambrose Bierce’s PhilosophyIn San Francisco, Bierce received the rank of Brevet Major before retiring from the army. He lived in San Francisco for years, eventually becoming known as a contributor and editor for a number of local magazines and newspapers, including The San Francisco News Letter, The Overland Monthly, The Argonaut, The Wasp, and The Californian. His selection of crime stories from the San Francisco News Letter is included in the Library of America’s True Crime anthology.Bierce, from 1872-1875, lived and wrote in England and wrote for ‘Fun Magazine’. Ambrose Bierce’s first book, ‘The Fiend’s Delight’, is a compilation of his articles which was published in London in 1873. He tried his luck as a local manager at a New York mining company. He continued his journalism career when the company failed and returned to San Francisco.One of Bierce’s journalistic duties was to cover the 1896 railroad refinancing bill. The bill would free up railroads to repay a $130 million federal government loan to build a transcontinental railroad. The railroad owner’s plan was to pass the bill without public notification or hearing. Ambrose Bierce’s boss, William Randolph Hearst, hired Bierce to move to Washington, D.C., cover stories, and publish articles revealing these plans. Ambrose Bierce’s scathing remarks on the issue sparked public outrage, and the bill was duly rejected.He also went on to become one of the first regular editors and columnists of William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper, ‘The San Francisco Examiner’, and his work was to write short stories and eventually became one of the most influential journalists and writers on the West Coast. Ambrose Bierce remained affiliated with Hearst Newspapers until 1909.Facts About Ambrose Bierce’s EducationBierce was raised in Kosciuszko County, Indiana, and attended high school in Warsaw County.At the age of 15, Bierce left his home to become an apprentice in a small abolitionist newspaper, North Indianan.General Hazen believed that Ambrose would graduate with honors from the military academy, and William T. Sherman also approved the application, although he said he had no personal acquaintance with Bierce.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 161 Ambrose Bierce facts: learn about the soldier who became a writer, then why not take a look at Amedeo Modigliani facts or Ansel Adams facts?

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was a veteran of the Civil War.