Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce: Civil War Soldier

Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.

The title plays an important role in catching the reader’s attention. If the title is interesting or compelling enough, one will be motivated to read it; otherwise, the story may never be read, resulting in a loss to both the author and the reader. In Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” the author grabs the reader’s attention with a “creepy” title, indicating a bad happening on the Owl Creek Bridge. Peyton Farquhar, a planter who supports the Southern cause during the Civil War, is on the brink of execution by hanging. The title sets the eerie tone of the story, which appears to be about a hanging, and the setting, which appears to be a bridge.

Between the years of 1812-1885, Martin R. Delaney was an African-American abolitionist, physician, journalist, and soldier. Delaney was one of the first three black men that attended to the Harvard Medical School as well as the first African-Americans to be a field officer for the Union Army during, the Civil War. After the war he worked in the "Freedmen's Bureau" in 1865 and wrote his model contract for landowners and Sharecroppers

Lewis Addison Armistead was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He participated in the Mexican American War, the Mojave War, and the Civil War. Armistead’s heritage included great participation in the military of the United States and ties to Virginia during the colonial period.

James Ewell Brown Stuart or J.E.B. Stuart is known for his military expertise on both the Union and Confederate sides during the Civil War. Coming from a family of famous military commanders, Stuart grew up with the knowledge of war and combat. He served under Robert E. Lee, and was involved in many important battles leading up to the start of the Civil War. He eventually follows his commander and became part of Confederacy. Stuart really helped the Confederates, not only by commanding army regiments but also by attaining information during reconnaissance missions. His missions helped them win several battles but in the end not following orders was the death of him.

Not every man who 's fought in a war planned on doing so. In fact, not all of them even want to. It 's rare to find enough people voluntarily willing to lay down their lives for their country, so more often than not militaries used what we would call “citizen soldiers.” Citizen soldiers are exactly what they sound like, regular citizens taken from society and turned into people capable of serving in the military. Although it may seem obvious when plainly written out, citizen soldiers had vastly different experiences compared to career soldiers, and Stephen Ambrose attempted to pin down that specific experience in his book Citizen Soldier. Ambrose uses oral interviews from World War II veterans and other materials to explain the experiences of the common American soldier who served in WWII between D-Day and the eventual surrender of the German forces. However, when examining his book, it 's important to ask how successful Ambrose was in painting an accurate picture of this kind of soldier 's life during his service. Is the information he uses specific to the men who served in Europe, or can it also be linked back to the soldiers in the Pacific? This paper will evaluate his work by comparing it to oral interviews from WWII veterans both from the same areas that Ambrose 's veterans serve in and in locations not included in his work.

James Gillespie Birney was born on february 4, 1792 and was an abolitionist. He was born and raised in Danville, Kentucky along with his siblings. As he was growing up, he had no father figure and he lost his mother when he was barely growing. He and his two sisters had to live with their aunt. He started studying at age eleven and was sent to Transylvania University. After 2 years, he returned and continued his studies back in Danville.

By 1891 Benjamin had moved along with his daughter Julie Ann and her husband Donald McDonald, Robert, with his youngest son, William H. was living with a young family of 3, Ned Wyld, Margaret and young daughter Mary. Even Benjamin’s ex-step daughter Nancy Burns had moved to the westernmost end of the road to Haines Lake.

The United States during the Civil war was a divided nation and filled with gruesome fighting. It hit all parts of the country and brought the fighting right to the back yards of families. While the men of the nation fought the combat war, woman fought different wars in the shadows. Fighting split millions of families up, and it affected woman in multiple ways. Challenges differed for woman from North and South. While some woman’s homes were turned into hospitals, other woman had to learn how to tend to their plantations while their husbands were away fighting. Many women disguised themselves as men to fight in the war because in the 1860s, a woman fighting in the war was not allowed yet. Numerous enslaved

It was 1861, and after a divisive presidential election, the nation was tearing itself apart. Eight states had been toran from the Union. And now, Isaac Murphy faced a choice. On May 1861, the Arkansas Secession Convention had reconvened after the battle at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. After the fall of the Union base, President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from the still-loyal states to defend the Union. For the states of the Upper South, this was too much. Shortly after Lincoln’s announcement, Virginia, which had initially voted against secession, voted to pull out. Now it was Arkansas’s turn to decide, and the delegates were pushing heavily for secession.This was not the first time that Murphy had to take a stand. He was born in 1799

Braxton Bragg was born on March 22, 1817 and was born into a family of humble means in Warrenton, North Carolina. His father was a contactor and his mother had spent time in jail for killing a freed slave. Braxton was an army officer who served as a Confederate general during the Civil War (1861-1865). Braxton entered into the war in 1861 and was promoted to full general after 1 year. As commander of the Army of Tennessee, Braxton lead operations in Kentucky and Tennessee. Braxton retired from war after the Battles of Perryville and Stones River in late 1862 and early 1863. Braxton’s most significant Confederate victory was in the Western Theater at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. After Braxton retired from war he served as an

James admits he is not the best in spelling or the smartest in the company. James Edmond Pease begins his Civil War journal on November 5, 1863. James is an orphan who has wandered the countryside since running away from his mean uncle and aunt.

Ambrose Bierce is a phenomenal author who has been heavily influenced by what he endured in the civil war. Peter J Marrone is quoted with saying, "Ambrose Bierce's martial experience as a Union soldier in the American Civil War proved to be the seminal episode indelibly impacting his philosophical, political, and cultural perspectives that would charge his literary constructions throughout his career." War between nations, war between states or war between your very own neighbor, war is something that has influenced a nations people. While war between nations is inarguably destructive to a nation, it is impossible to ignore the influence of war between the citizens of the same country. An excellent example of an individual heavily influenced by civil war, who chose to portray this influence in writing is Ambrose Bierce. In his most widely known work "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," the author makes great use of appearance

The entire story was just a snapshot that occurred in his mind before his death. Ambrose Bierce purposefully continues to build the anticipation that the devout Union soldier had escaped, only to drop the reader into a tale of demise and overall doom.

Reading and understanding literature is not as easy as it sounds. Being able to dissect each piece of information and connect it to the overall theme of the story takes lots of rereading and critical thinking. Reading the story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” takes lots of critical thinking and understanding the literature in a different point of view than the average reader would. The theme of this particular story quickly came to mind after initially concluding the reading, the author is trying to convey that nobody can escape death and how thoughts in the mind are so substantial in the consciousness that it can take over the reality. The author comes to this theme by incorporating specific literary elements such a symbol, irony,