A Brief Biography Of Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce

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Recommended: Bierce drew on his observations and experience during the Civil War in writing

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on June 24, 1842 in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents, Marcus Aurelius Bierce and Laura Sherwood Bierce, had thirteen children, and Ambrose was the tenth of the thirteen. Ambrose’s idiosyncratic father decided to start the names of all thirteen of his children with the letter A. His family was poor, so his parents decided to move to Ohio, like many other families, in hopes that the westward expansion might help them financially. When they realized the riches they were in search of were not coming as readily as expected, they decided they should move. In 1846 the family moved again. This move was to Warsaw, India.
Ambrose Bierce attended high school in Warsaw where the knack he had for literary work started to become apparent. During his high school career he wrote a paper, which allowed him to attain some experience in the newspaper world. He wrote a paper on antislavery that was titled The Northern Indian. His father, Marcus, had a fairly big influence on the beginning stages of Ambrose’s writing. Marcus supplied him with a basic library and guidance for factors concerning the writing, studying, or even content of literature. Even though his father had a big impact on Bierce’s life there was another man who arguably may have had an even bigger influence on his life. This man was his uncle, Lucius Verus Bierce.
Lucius Bierce was a General and crusader intently trying to abolish slavery. In 1859 Ambrose entered the Kentucky Military Institute in Franklin Springs, Kentucky and right away his uncle had a profound, long lasting influence on the beginning of his military career. In April 1861 Ambrose enlisted with the Ninth Indiana Infantry. He was involved in the first combat of the Civ...

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... things happening in his life at the time Bierce wrote many articles and Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, Black Beetles in Amber, Can Such Things Be?, In the Midst of Life (1892), and Fantastic Fables (1899). All of these works are a part of what made him become one of the best-known journalists in America. Because of his writings and his sense of humor he acquired the nickname “Bitter Bierce”.
Bierce is most known for his short stories “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Chickamauga.” Even though he did not have that many short stories, he was still a well-known, influential writer. The public loved him; and was very interested by his stories, his personality, his life, and even his death. In 1913 Bierce disappeared over the Mexican border and still, until this day, no one has documented proof on exactly how, when, or where Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce died.

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