View source for Biography:Ambrose Bierce

{{short description|American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist}}
{{Infobox writer
|birth_name = Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
|image = Abierce.jpg
|caption = Bierce around 1866
|birth_place = Meigs County, Ohio, U.S.
{{Infobox person|child=yes
|disappeared_date = {{c.|{{death year and age|1914|1842}}}}<ref>McWilliams, Carey. ''Ambrose Bierce: A Biography''. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1967, pp. 324–25.</ref>
|disappeared_place = <!-- Unknown -->
}}
|occupation = {{cslist|Soldier|journalist|writer}}
|genres = {{cslist|Satire|journalism|short story|horror fiction|war fiction|fantasy|science fiction|western|memoir|humor|[[Philosophy:Literary criticism|literary criticism]]|poetry}}
|spouse = {{marriage|Mary Ellen "Mollie" Day|1871|1904|end=divorced}}
|children = 3
|movement = Realism
|notableworks = {{cslist|"Chickamauga"|"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"|"The Death of Halpin Frayser"|"The Moonlit Road"|''The Devil's Dictionary''|''Tales of Soldiers and Civilians''}}
|module = {{Infobox military person | embed=yes
   |allegiance= United States
   |branch= Union Army
   |serviceyears= 1861–1866
   |rank= First lieutenant
   |unit= 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment
   |commands=
   |battles= {{tree list}}
*American Civil War
**Battle of Philippi
**Battle of Laurel Mountain
**Battle of Corrick's Ford
**Battle of Cheat Mountain
**Battle of Greenbrier River
**Battle of Camp Allegheny
**Battle of Shiloh
**Siege of Corinth
**Battle of Perryville
**Battle of Stones River
**Battle of Chickamauga
**Chattanooga Campaign
**Battle of Lookout Mountain
**Battle of Missionary Ridge
**Battle of Resaca
**Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
**Atlanta Campaign
**Battle of Jonesborough
**Battle of Franklin (1864)
**Battle of Nashville{{tree list/end}}
   |awards=
   }}
|signature = Bierce Ambrose, sig, clean and moderately crisp.jpg
}}
'''Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce''' (June 24, 1842{{Sfn |Floyd |1999|p = 18}} – {{circa|1914}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction|last=D'Ammassa|first=Don|publisher=Facts On File, Inc.|year=2006|location=New York}}</ref>) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.<ref>"[http://www.leatherboundtreasure.com/american_literature.html Franklin Library 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature 1976–1984]", Leather Bound Treasure.</ref>  His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature",<ref>"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Ambrose Bierce." ''Short Story Criticism'', v. 72, Joseph Palmisano, ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2004, p. 2.</ref> and his book ''Tales of Soldiers and Civilians'' (also published as ''In the Midst of Life'') was named by the Grolier Club one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900.<ref>Adams, Frederick B.; Winterich, John T.; Johnson, Thomas H.; and McKay, George L. ''One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900: Catalogue and Addresses''. New York: The Grolier Club, 1947, p. 124.</ref>

A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States<ref>Grenander, M. E. ''Ambrose Bierce'', Boston: Twayne, 1971, p. 10.</ref><ref>Mundt, Whitney R., "Ambrose Bierce" in ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' v. 23: ''American Newspaper Journalists, 1873–1900'', Ashley, Perry J., ed., Detroit: Gale Research, 1983, p. 25. See also Bierce, Ambrose, ''Skepticism and Dissent: Selected Journalism from 1898–1901'', Lawrence I. Berkove, ed., Ann Arbor: Delmas, 1980; Lindley, Daniel, ''Ambrose Bierce Takes on the Railroad: The Journalist as Muckraker and Cynic'', Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999; Ramirez, Salvador A.,''A Clash of Titans: Ambrose Bierce, Collis Huntington and the 1896 Fight to Refund the Central Pacific's Debt to the Federal Government'', San Luis Rey, Calif: Tentacled Press, 2010; Drabelle, Dennis, ''The Great American Railroad War: How Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris Took on the Notorious Central Pacific Railroad'', New York: St. Martin's, 2012; West, Richard Samuel, ''The San Francisco Wasp: An Illustrated History'', Northampton, MA: Periodyssey Press, 2004, pp. 45–59, 310–11.</ref> and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction.<ref>Grenander, M.E., "Ambrose Bierce" in ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' v. 12: ''American Realists and Naturalists'', Pizer, Donald and Harbert, Earl N., eds., Detroit: Gale Research, 1982, pp. 23–36.</ref> For his horror writing, Michael Dirda ranked him alongside [[Biography:Edgar Allan Poe|Edgar Allan Poe]] and [[Biography:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]].<ref>Dirda, Michael, "Thirteen for Halloween", ''The American Scholar'', October 28, 2015.</ref> [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] speculates that he may well be the greatest satirist America has ever produced, and in this regard can take his place with such figures as Juvenal, Swift, and [[Biography:Voltaire|Voltaire]].<ref>[https://loa-shared.s3.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/LOA_Joshi_on_Bierce.pdf Kelley, Rich. "The Library of America interviews S. T. Joshi about Ambrose Bierce".] ''The Library of America''. September 2011.</ref> His war stories influenced Stephen Crane, [[Biography:Ernest Hemingway|Ernest Hemingway]], and others,<ref>[[Biography:S. T. Joshi|Joshi, S. T.]] in Kelley, Rich, "The Library of America interviews S. T. Joshi about Ambrose Bierce," ''The Library of America e-Newsletter'', Sept. 2011.</ref> and he was considered an influential and feared literary critic.<ref>Grenander, M.E., "Ambrose Bierce" in ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'' v. 71: ''American Literary Critics and Scholars, 1880–1900'', Rathbun, John W. and Grecu, Monica M., eds., Detroit: Gale Research, 1988, pp. 27–37.</ref> In recent decades, Bierce has gained wider respect as a fabulist and for his poetry.<ref>Joshi, S.T., "Introduction," ''The Collected Fables of Ambrose Bierce'', Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2000, p. xxi.</ref><ref>Grenander, M.E., "Introduction" to ''Poems of Ambrose Bierce'', Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1995, p. xiii.</ref>

In 1913, Bierce told reporters that he was travelling to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the Mexican Revolution.<ref>Bierce letter from Chihuahua to Blanche Partington dated December 26, 1913. Printed in ''A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] and David E. Schultz, eds. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2003, pp. 244–46.</ref> He disappeared and was never seen again.

==Early life==
Bierce was born in a log cabin at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio, on June 24, 1842, to Marcus Aurelius Bierce (1799–1876) and Laura Sherwood Bierce.{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 18}}  He was of entirely English ancestry: all of his forebears came to North America between 1620 and 1640 as part of the Great Puritan Migration.<ref>Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company By Roy Morris</ref>  He often wrote critically of "Puritan values" and people who "made a fuss" about genealogy.<ref>The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8 Epigrams, On With the Dance, Negligible Tales</ref> He was the tenth of thirteen children,  all of whom were given names by their father beginning with the letter "A": in order of birth, the Bierce siblings were Abigail, Amelia, Ann, Addison, Aurelius, Augustus, Almeda, Andrew, Albert, Ambrose, Arthur, Adelia, and Aurelia.<ref>''An Ambrose Bierce Companion'' by Robert L. Gale p. 31</ref> His mother was a descendant of William Bradford.<ref>''Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company'' by Roy Morris p. 20</ref>

His parents were a poor but literary couple who instilled in him a deep love for books and writing.{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 |p = 18}} Bierce grew up in Kosciusko County, Indiana, attending high school at the county seat, Warsaw.

He left home at 15 to become a [[Unsolved:Printer's devil|printer's devil]] at a small [[Social:Abolitionism|abolitionist]] newspaper, the ''Northern Indianan''.{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 |p = 18}}

==Military career==
Bierce briefly attended the Kentucky Military Institute until it burned down.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bleiler|first=E. F.|title=Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce|publisher=Dover|year=1964|isbn=0-486-20767-6|location=New York|pages=vi|chapter=Introduction}}</ref> At the start of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army's 9th Indiana Infantry. He participated in the operations in Western Virginia (1861), was present at the Battle of Philippi (the first organized land action of the war) and received newspaper attention for his daring rescue, under fire, of a gravely wounded comrade at the Battle of Rich Mountain. Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862), a terrifying experience that became a source for several short stories and the memoir "What I Saw of Shiloh".<ref>Paul Fatout,  "Ambrose Bierce, Civil War Topographer." ''American Literature'' 26.3 (1954): 391-400 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2921693 online].</ref><ref>Bjorn Skaptason, "What I Saw of Shiloh: In the Footsteps of Ambrose Bierce." ''The Ambrose Bierce Project Journal'' 3 (2007): 1–32 [http://www.ambrosebierce.org/abpjournal2007.skaptason.trailguide.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221071640/http://www.ambrosebierce.org/ABPJournal2007.Skaptason.TrailGuide.pdf |date=February 21, 2016 }}.</ref>

In April 1863 he was commissioned a first lieutenant, and served on the staff of General William Babcock Hazen as a [[Earth:Topography|topographical engineer]], making maps of likely battlefields.<ref name="JimMcWilliams">{{cite news |last1=McWilliams |first1=Jim |title=Ambrose Bierce's Civil War |url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/ambrose-bierces-civil-war/ |access-date=August 16, 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=December 17, 2013}}</ref> As a staff officer, Bierce became known to leading generals such as George H. Thomas and Oliver O. Howard, both of whom supported his application for admission to West Point in May 1864. General Hazen believed Bierce would graduate from the military academy "with distinction" and William T. Sherman also endorsed the application for admission, even though stating he had no personal acquaintance with Bierce.<ref>National Archives, RG 94, Entry243, Microfilm M688, Roll 235</ref> In June 1864, Bierce sustained a [[Medicine:Traumatic brain injury|traumatic brain injury]] at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and spent the rest of the summer on furlough, returning to active duty in September.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Keeler|first=Kyle|date=Summer 2019|title='I thought this is a bad dream and tried to cry out': Sleep as Trauma in the Fiction of Ambrose Bierce|journal=Midwest Quarterly: A Journal of Contemporary Thought|volume=60|pages=451–468}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation|url = http://www.ambrosebierce.org/timeline2.html|type = timeline|contribution = 1861–67. The Civil War|title = The Ambrose Bierce Project|access-date = May 27, 2009|archive-date = September 4, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090904044300/http://www.ambrosebierce.org/timeline2.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> He was discharged from the army in January 1865.

His military career resumed in mid-1866, when he joined General Hazen as part of an expedition to inspect military outposts across the Great Plains. The expedition traveled by horseback and wagon from Omaha, Nebraska, arriving toward year's end in San Francisco, California. In the city, Bierce was awarded the rank of brevet major before resigning from the Army.

==Journalism==
Bierce remained in San Francisco for many years, eventually becoming famous as a contributor or editor of newspapers and periodicals, including ''The San Francisco News Letter'', ''The Argonaut'', the ''Overland Monthly'', ''The Californian'' and ''The Wasp''. A selection of his crime reporting from ''The San Francisco News Letter'' was included in the Library of America anthology ''True Crime''.

Bierce lived and wrote in England from 1872 to 1875, contributing to ''Fun'' magazine. His first book, ''The Fiend's Delight'', a compilation of his articles, was published in London in 1873 by John Camden Hotten under the pseudonym "Dod Grile".{{Sfn | Bierce | 2003 | p = 8}}{{Sfn | Morris | 1999 | p = 143}}

Returning to the United States, he again took up residence in San Francisco. From 1879 to 1880, he traveled to Rockerville and Deadwood in the Dakota Territory, to try his hand as local manager for a New York mining company. When the company failed he returned to San Francisco and resumed his career in journalism.

From January 1, 1881, until September 11, 1885, he was editor of ''The Wasp'' magazine, in which he began a column titled "Prattle". He also became one of the first regular columnists and editorialists on William Randolph Hearst's newspaper, the ''San Francisco Examiner'',{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 |p = 18}} eventually becoming one of the most prominent and influential writers and journalists{{Citation needed|date = July 2015}} on the West Coast. He remained associated with Hearst Newspapers until 1909.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Student's Encyclopedia of Great American Writers: 1830 to 1900|last=Joshi|first=S. T.|publisher=Facts On File, Inc.|year=2010|volume=2|location=New York}}</ref>

===Railroad refinancing bill===
[[File:NE corner of Logan Circle.jpg|thumb|Bierce's residence (right), 18 Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.]]
The [[Company:Union Pacific Railroad|Union Pacific]] and Central Pacific railroad companies had received large, low-interest loans from the U.S. government to build the first transcontinental railroad. Central Pacific executive Collis P. Huntington persuaded a friendly member of Congress to introduce a bill excusing the companies from repaying the loans, amounting  to $130 million (worth ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|130000000|1895}}}} today).

In January 1896 Hearst dispatched Bierce to [[Place:Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]], to foil this attempt. The essence of the plot was secrecy; the railroads' advocates hoped to get the bill through Congress without any public notice or hearings. When the angered Huntington confronted Bierce on the steps of the Capitol and told Bierce to name his price, Bierce's answer ended up in newspapers nationwide: "My price is one hundred thirty million dollars. If, when you are ready to pay, I happen to be out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Beam |first=Alex |title=Ambrose Bierce, mon amour |url=http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2008/06/24/ambrose_bierce_mon_amour/ |date=June 24, 2008 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=April 5, 2015}}{{Subscription or libraries}}</ref>

Bierce's coverage and diatribes on the subject aroused such public wrath that the bill was defeated. Bierce returned to California in November.

In 1899, he moved back to Washington, D.C., and remained a resident until his disappearance in 1913. The best known of his four different residences in the city during this time perhaps is the townhouse at 18 Logan Circle.<ref>{{cite web | title=Ambrose Bierce | website=DC Writers’ Homes | date=21 August 2017 | url=https://dcwritershomes.wdchumanities.org/ambrose-bierce/ | access-date=3 April 2023}}</ref>

===McKinley controversy===
Bierce's long newspaper career was often controversial because of his penchant for biting social criticism and satire. On several occasions his columns stirred up a storm of hostile reaction, which created difficulties for Hearst. One of the most notable of these incidents occurred following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901 when Hearst's opponents turned a poem Bierce had written about the assassination of Governor William Goebel of Kentucky in 1900 into a ''[[Social:Cause célèbre|cause célèbre]]''.

Bierce meant his poem to express a national mood of dismay and fear, but after McKinley was shot in 1901, it seemed to foreshadow the crime:

{{blockquote |<poem>The bullet that pierced Goebel's breast
Can not be found in all the West;
Good reason, it is speeding here
To stretch McKinley on his bier.</poem>}}

Hearst was thereby accused by rival newspapers—and by then-Secretary of War [[Biography:Elihu Root|Elihu Root]]—of having called for McKinley's assassination. Despite a national uproar that ended his ambitions for the presidency (and even his membership in the Bohemian Club), Hearst kept employing Bierce.{{Sfn | Morris | 1999 | pp = 236–37}}

==Literary writer==
[[File:Ambrose Bierce 1892-10-07.jpg|thumb|upright|Bierce, 1892]]
During his lifetime, Bierce was better known as a journalist than as a fiction writer.  His most popular stories were written in rapid succession between 1888 and 1891, in what was characterized as "a tremendous burst of consummate art".<ref>M. E. Grenander. ''Ambrose Bierce''. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1971. p. 55.</ref> Bierce's works often highlight the inscrutability of the universe and the absurdity of death.<ref name="ye qi">Ye Qi. ''Megashift from Plot to Character In American Short Fiction''. {{ISBN|978-0983875369}}. p. 48.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar058780&st=ambrose+bierce#tab=homepage|title = Bierce, Ambrose|date = 2016|access-date = January 15, 2016|website = World Book Advanced|publisher = World Book|last = Curran|first = Ronald T.}}</ref>

Bierce wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war<ref>{{Cite web|title = Ambrose Bierce's Civil War|url = http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/ambrose-bierces-civil-war/|website = Opinionator| date=December 17, 2013 |access-date = January 14, 2016}}</ref> in such stories as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", "A Horseman in the Sky", "One of the Missing", and "Chickamauga". His grimly realistic cycle of 25 war stories has been called "the greatest anti-war document in American literature".<ref>A. Teodorescu. ''Death Representations in Literature''. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1443872980}}. p. 143.</ref>

According to Milton Subotsky, Bierce helped pioneer the [[Software:Psychological horror|psychological horror]] story.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Horror: 100 Best Books|publisher = Carroll and Graf|year = 1990|isbn = 0881845949|location = New York|page = [https://archive.org/details/horror100bestboo00jone/page/74 74]|editor-last = Jones|editor-first = Stephen|editor2-last = Newman|editor2-first = Kim|url = https://archive.org/details/horror100bestboo00jone/page/74}}</ref> In addition to his ghost and war stories, he also published several volumes of poetry.  His ''Fantastic Fables'' anticipated the ironic style of grotesquerie that became a more common genre in the 20th century.

One of Bierce's most famous works is his much-quoted ''The Devil's Dictionary'', originally an occasional newspaper item, first published in book form in 1906 as ''The Cynic's Word Book.'' Described as "howlingly funny",<ref>Morris, Roy. ''Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company''. Oxford University Press, 1995, p.183.</ref> it consists of satirical definitions of English words which lampoon [[Social:Cant (language)|cant]] and political double-talk. Bierce edited the twelve volumes of ''The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce'', which were published from 1909 to 1912. The seventh volume consists solely of ''The Devil's Dictionary''.

Bierce has been criticized by his contemporaries and later scholars for deliberately pursuing improbability and for his penchant toward "[[Engineering:Plot twist|trick endings]]".<ref name="ye qi"/> In his later stories, apparently under the influence of Maupassant, Bierce "dedicated himself to shocking the audience", as if his purpose was "to attack the reader's smug intellectual security".<ref>Fusco, Richard. ''Maupassant and the American Short Story: The Influence of Form at the Turn of the Century.'' Penn State University Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0271041124}}. p. 112.</ref>

Bierce's bias towards Naturalism has also been noted:<ref>Judy Cornes. ''Madness and the Loss of Identity in Nineteenth Century Fiction''. McFarland, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0786432240}}. p. 52.</ref> "The biting, deriding quality of his satire, unbalanced by any compassion for his targets, was often taken as petty meanness, showing contempt for humanity and an intolerance to the point of merciless cruelty".<ref>H. Hendin, A. O. Haas. "Posttraumatic Stress Disorders in Veterans of Early American Wars." ''Psychohistory Review'' 12 (1984): 25–30.</ref>

Stephen Crane was of the minority of Bierce's contemporaries who valued Bierce's experimental short stories.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce|last = Bierce|first = Ambrose|publisher = University of Nebraska Press|year = 1984|isbn = 0803260717|page= 5|others = Compiled with Commentary by Ernest Jerome Hopkins; Foreword by Cathy Davidson}}</ref>  In his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature", [[Biography:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]] characterized Bierce's fictional work as "grim and savage."  Lovecraft goes on to say that nearly all of Bierce's stories are of the horror genre and some shine as great examples of weird fiction.<ref>:s:Supernatural Horror in Literature/The Weird Tradition in America</ref>

Critic and novelist  William Dean Howells said, "Mr. Bierce is among our three greatest writers." When told this, Bierce responded, "I am sure Mr. Howells is the other two."<ref>McWilliams, Carey. ''Ambrose Bierce: A Biography''. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1967, p. 219.</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Ambrose Bierce-1.jpg|thumb|upright|Ambrose Bierce, by J.H.E. Partington]]
Bierce married Mary Ellen "Mollie" Day on December 25, 1871. They had three children: sons Day (1872–1889){{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 19}} and Leigh (1874–1901){{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 19}} and daughter Helen (1875–1940). Both of Bierce's sons died before he did. Day committed suicide after a romantic rejection (he non-fatally shot the woman of his affections along with her fiancé beforehand),{{Sfn | Morris | 1999 | pp =206–08, 238}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Along the Pacific Coast |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014381/1889-07-27/ed-1/seq-1 |newspaper=Sacramento Daily Record-Union |date=July 27, 1889 |page=1 |access-date=December 11, 2015}}</ref> and Leigh died of [[Medicine:Pneumonia|pneumonia]] related to alcoholism.{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 19}} Bierce separated from his wife in 1888, after discovering compromising letters to her from an admirer. They divorced in 1904.{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 19}} Mollie Day Bierce died the following year.

Bierce was an avowed agnostic and strongly rejected the divinity of Christ.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ambrose Bierce's Civilians and soldiers in context: a critical study|year=2004|publisher=Kent State University Press|isbn=978-0873387781|page=323|author=Donald T. Blume|chapter=The Boarded Window|quote=Contrary to McWilliams's claim; however, in the public arena Bierce was not merely an agnostic, but a staunch unbeliever regarding the question of Jesus' divinity.}}<!--|access-date=30 April 2013--></ref> He had lifelong [[Medicine:Asthma|asthma]],{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 |pp = 19–20}} as well as complications from his war wounds, most notably episodes of fainting and irritability assignable to the traumatic brain injury experienced at Kennesaw Mountain.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

==Disappearance==
In October 1913, Bierce, then age 71, departed from Washington, D.C., for a tour of his old Civil War battlefields. According to some reports, by December he had passed through Louisiana and Texas, crossing by way of El Paso into Mexico, which was in the throes of revolution. In Ciudad Juárez he joined Pancho Villa's army as an observer, and in that role he witnessed the Battle of Tierra Blanca.<ref name=Texas>{{cite book|last1=Varhola|first1=Michael|title=Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State|date=2011|publisher=Clerisy Press|location=Cincinnati|isbn=978-1578604586|page=176|edition=First}}</ref>

It was reported that Bierce accompanied Villa's army as far as the city of Chihuahua. His last known communication with the world was a letter he wrote there to Blanche Partington, a close friend, dated December 26, 1913.<ref>{{Citation |  last = Starrett | first = Vincent | title = Ambrose Bierce | publisher = WM Hill | year = 1920 | page = 39}}.</ref>{{Sfn | Bierce | 2003 | pp = 244f}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Day |first=Leon |title=My Hunt For Ambrose Bierce |url=http://www.donswaim.com/bierce.leon.day-6.html |date=August 8, 2007 |website=The Ambrose Bierce Site |access-date=April 6, 2016}}</ref> After closing this letter by saying, "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination," he vanished without a trace, one of the most famous disappearances in American literary history.

===Theories===
Despite numerous conjectures, Bierce's ultimate fate continues to remain a mystery. He wrote in one of his final letters: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"<ref>{{cite news |last=Abrams |first=Garry |date=June 25, 1991 |title=Stranger Than Fiction : Mystery: The case of Ambrose Bierce, the disappearing author, may have been solved by the publisher of a new collection of the writer's short stories |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-25-vw-1440-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=January 22, 2022}}</ref>

Skeptic [[Biography:Joe Nickell|Joe Nickell]] noted that the letter to Partington had not been found (all that existed was a notebook belonging to his secretary and companion, Carrie Christiansen), and concluded that Bierce deliberately concealed his true whereabouts when he finally went to a selected location in the [[Earth:Grand Canyon|Grand Canyon]] and committed suicide.<ref name="Nickell2c">{{cite book|title=Ambrose Bierce is Missing: And Other Historical Mysteries By Joe Nickell|pages=28}}</ref><ref name="Nickell2">{{cite journal |last1=Nickell |first1=Joe |title=Incredible vanishings and the case of Ambrose Bierce |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=2021 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=14–16}}</ref>

There was an official investigation by U.S. consular officials of the disappearance of one of its citizens. Some of Villa's men were questioned at the time of his disappearance and afterwards, with contradictory accounts. Pancho Villa's representative in the U.S., Felix A. Sommerfeld, was contacted by U.S. Army chief of staff Hugh L. Scott and Sommerfeld investigated the disappearance.  Bierce was said to have been last seen in the city of Chihuahua in January.<ref>{{cite book|first=Friedrich|last= Katz|title=The Life and Times of Pancho Villa|publisher= Stanford: Stanford University Press|year= 1998|page= 865}}</ref>

Oral tradition in Sierra Mojada, Coahuila, documented by a priest, James Lienert, states that Bierce was executed by firing squad in the town's cemetery.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://donswaim.com/bierce-lienert.html | title = The Ambrose Bierce Site | contribution = Monument in the Sierra Mojada cemetery | first = James | last = Lienert | year = 2004}}, with inscription stating that Bierce was shot there.</ref>

==Legacy and influence==
[[File:Ambrose Bierce small.jpg|thumb|left|Bierce and autograph]]

Bierce has been fictionalized in more than 50 novels, short stories, movies, television shows, stage plays, and comic books. Most of these works draw upon Bierce's vivid personality, colorful wit, relationships with famous people such as Jack London and William Randolph Hearst, or, quite frequently, his mysterious disappearance.

Bierce has been portrayed by such well-known authors as [[Biography:Ray Bradbury|Ray Bradbury]],<ref>[[Biography:Ray Bradbury|Bradbury, Ray]] (1949) "The Mad Wizards of Mars," ''Maclean's'', Sept. 15; revised as "The Exiles," ''Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', v. 1 n. 2, Winter-Spring 1950; revised again and included in ''The Illustrated Man'' (1951). Print. Bierce assists [[Biography:Edgar Allan Poe|Edgar Allan Poe]], other fantasy writers, and their fictional characters—all exiled to Mars because Earth has forbidden and destroyed every fantasy book—in a last-ditch attempt to prevent an expedition from Earth from obliterating them.</ref> Jack Finney,<ref>Finney, Jack (1955) "Of Missing Persons," ''Good Housekeeping'', March. Print. In one of Finney's most often reprinted stories, Bierce is mentioned but never seen. Nevertheless, he plays an important symbolic role. A man tells about his visit to a seemingly ordinary travel agency that secretly arranges for discontented people to leave Earth and travel to the utopian planet of Verna. Bierce is the only specific character named as having disappeared from Earth to move to Verna, and his activities and new home on Verna are described.</ref> Carlos Fuentes,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shorris|first=Earl|date=October 27, 1985|title=The New York Times: Book Review Search Article|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/26/home/fuentes-gringo.html|access-date=September 13, 2020|website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> Winston Groom,<ref>{{Cite web|last=O'Hanlon|first=Morgan|date=October 12, 2016|title=Author Winston Groom returns to fiction unsuccessfully with "El Paso"|url=http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/10/12/author-winston-groom-returns-to-fiction-unsuccessfully-with-%E2%80%9Cel-paso%E2%80%9D|access-date=September 13, 2020|website=The Daily Texan|language=en|archive-date=September 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922221354/http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/10/12/author-winston-groom-returns-to-fiction-unsuccessfully-with-%E2%80%9Cel-paso%E2%80%9D|url-status=dead}}</ref> Robert Heinlein,<ref>{{Cite web|title=AlphaDictionary Free Online Dictionaries * Ambrose Bierce Devil's Dictionary|url=https://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/devils_dictionary/introduction.html|access-date=September 13, 2020|website=www.alphadictionary.com}}</ref> and Don Swaim.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Rhiminee|first=Seregil of|date=May 8, 2016|title=A review of Don Swaim's The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story|url=https://www.risingshadow.net/articles/reviews/611-a-review-of-don-swaim-s-the-assassination-of-ambrose-bierce-a-love-story|access-date=September 13, 2020|website=www.risingshadow.net|language=en-GB}}</ref> Some works featuring a fictional Ambrose Bierce have received favorable reviews, generated international sales,<ref>Shaw, Deborah A., "Best Sellers". ''Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature'', Smith, Verity, ed. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997, p. 115.</ref> or earned major awards.

Bierce's short stories, "Haita the Shepherd" and "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" are believed to have influenced early weird fiction writer Robert W. Chambers' tales of ''The King in Yellow'' (1895), which featured Hastur, Carcosa, Lake Hali and other names and locations initiated in these tales.<ref>{{cite book |title=Horror Literature through History: An Encyclopedia of the Stories that Speak to Our Deepest Fears |page=513 |author=Lee Weinstein |chapter=The King in Yellow |editor=Matt Cardin |date=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440842023}}</ref> Chambers in turn went on to influence [[Biography:H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft]] and much of modern horror fiction.

In 1918, [[Biography:H. L. Mencken|H. L. Mencken]] called Bierce "the one genuine wit that These States have ever seen."<ref>"Suite Elegiaque," ''Smart Set'' v. 57 n. 2 (October 1918), p. 144; reprinted in ''H. L. Mencken on American Literature'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], ed., Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2002.</ref>

At least three films have been made of Bierce's story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". A silent film version, ''The Bridge'', was made in 1929 by Charles Vidor.<ref>{{Citation|last=Vidor|first=Charles|title=The Bridge|date=September 22, 2009|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019723/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> A French version called ''La Rivière du Hibou'', directed by Robert Enrico, was released in 1962;<ref>{{Citation|last=Enrico|first=Robert|title=Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge|date=May 1, 1962|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056300/|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> this black-and-white film faithfully recounts the original narrative using voiceover. It aired in 1964 on American television as one of the final episodes of the television series ''The Twilight Zone'': "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".<ref>{{Citation|last=Enrico|first=Robert|title=An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge|date=February 28, 1964|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734554/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> Prior to ''The Twilight Zone'', the story had been adapted as an episode of ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Stevenson|first=Robert|title=An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge|date=January 1, 2000|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508121/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_40|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> Another version, directed by Brian James Egen, was released in 2005. It was also adapted for the CBS radio programs ''Escape'' (1947), ''Suspense'' (1956, 1957, 1959), and ''Radio Mystery Theater'' (1974).

In his 1932 book ''Wild Talents'', American writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena Charles Fort wrote about the unexplained disappearances of Ambrose Bierce and Ambrose Small, and asked, "Was somebody collecting Ambroses?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anomalist.com/fort2.html#Collecting|title=The Quotable Fort: Part 2|access-date=February 13, 2017}}</ref>

Actor James Lanphier (1920–1969) played Bierce, with James Hampton as William Randolph Hearst, in the 1964 episode "The Paper Dynasty", of the syndicated western television series ''Death Valley Days'', hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Hearst struggles to turn a profit despite increased circulation of the ''San Francisco Examiner''. Robert O. Cornthwaite appears as Sam Chamberlain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0556854/|title=The Paper Dynasty on ''Death Valley Days''|publisher=[[Social:IMDb|Internet Movie Database]]|date=March 1, 1964|access-date=August 7, 2015}}</ref>

Carlos Fuentes's 1985 novel ''The Old Gringo'' is a fictionalized account of Bierce's disappearance; it was later adapted into the film ''Old Gringo'' (1989), starring Gregory Peck in the title role.<ref>Fuentes, Carlos, ''Gringo Viejo'' (Planeta, 2004) {{ISBN|978-968-6941-67-8}}</ref> Fuentes stated: "What started this novel was my admiration for Ambrose Bierce and for his ''Tales of Soldiers and Civilians''."<ref>Rohter, Larry, "From One Civil War to Another". ''New York Times'', October 27, 1985.</ref>

Two adaptations were made of Bierce's story "Eyes of the Panther". One version was developed for Shelley Duvall's ''Nightmare Classics'' series and was released in 1990. It runs about 60&nbsp;minutes.<ref>{{Citation|last=Black|first=Noel|title=The Eyes of the Panther|date=November 26, 1989|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099532/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_20|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> A shorter version was released in 2007 by director Michael Barton and runs about 23&nbsp;minutes.<ref>{{Citation|last=Barton|first=Michael|title=The Eyes of the Panther|date=August 10, 2007|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1078578/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_8|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref>

Bierce was a major character in a series of mystery books written by Oakley Hall and published between 1998 and 2006.<ref name="Hall">{{cite web|url=http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/inmemoriam/oakleyhall.html|title=In Memoriam Oakley Hall|publisher=University of California|first=Michelle|last=Latiolais|access-date=October 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512221941/http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/inmemoriam/oakleyhall.html|archive-date=May 12, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Biographer Richard O'Connor argued that, "War was the making of Bierce as a man and a writer... [he became] truly capable of transferring the bloody, headless bodies and boar-eaten corpses of the battlefield onto paper."{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 18}}

Essayist [[Biography:Clifton Fadiman|Clifton Fadiman]] wrote, "Bierce was never a great writer. He has painful faults of vulgarity and cheapness of imagination. But ... his style, for one thing, will preserve him; and the purity of his [[Philosophy:Misanthropy|misanthropy]], too, will help to keep him alive."{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 18}}

Author Alan Gullette argues that Bierce's war tales may be the best writing on war, outranking his contemporary Stephen Crane (author of ''The Red Badge of Courage'') and even [[Biography:Ernest Hemingway|Ernest Hemingway]].{{Sfn | Floyd | 1999 | p = 18}}

The short film "Ah! Silenciosa" (1999), starring Jim Beaver as Bierce, weaves elements of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" into a speculation on Bierce's disappearance.<ref>{{Citation|last=Cline-Márquez|first=Marcos|title=Ah! Silenciosa|date=January 1, 2000|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196319/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_67|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref>

Bierce's trip to Mexico and disappearance provide the background for the [[Unsolved:Vampire|vampire]] horror film ''From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter'' (2000), in which Bierce's character plays a central role.<ref>{{Citation|last=Pesce|first=P. J.|title=From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter|date=January 18, 2000|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120695/?ref_=nv_sr_4|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> Bierce's fate is the subject of Gerald Kersh's "The Oxoxoco Bottle" (aka "The Secret of the Bottle"), which appeared in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on December 7, 1957, and was reprinted in the anthology ''Men Without Bones''. Bierce reappears in the future on [[Earth:Mount Shasta|Mount Shasta]] in Robert Heinlein's novella, "Lost Legacy".

In the fall of 2001, ''An Occurrence Remembered'', a theatrical retelling of Bierce's ''An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge'' and ''Chickamauga'', premiered off-Broadway in New York City under the production and direction of [[Biography:Lorin Morgan-Richards|Lorin Morgan-Richards]] and lead choreographer Nicole Cavaliere.<ref>''Civil War Times Illustrated'', December 2001</ref>

American composer Rodney Waschka II composed an opera, ''Saint Ambrose'' (2002), based on Bierce's life.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.capstonerecords.org/CPS-8708.html | last = Waschka II | first = Rodney | publisher = Capstone Records | title = Saint Ambrose}}.</ref>

In 2002 the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco premiered a one-act version of Bierce's ultra-short story "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field" by American composer David Lang.  The opera has since been performed by other companies.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lang |first1=David |title=The Difficulty of Crossing a Field |url=https://davidlangmusic.com/music/difficulty-of-crossing-field |website=davidlangmusic.com |access-date=October 27, 2020}}</ref>

In 2005, author [[Biography:Kurt Vonnegut|Kurt Vonnegut]] stated that he considered "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" the "greatest American short story" and a work of "flawless ... American genius".<ref>{{Citation | last = Vonnegut | first = Kurt | title = A Man Without a Country | pages = 7–8 | quote = And I consider anybody a twerp who hasn't read the greatest American short story, which is "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," by Ambrose Bierce. ...It is a flawless example of American genius...}}</ref>

"The Damned Thing" was adapted twice. First time in 1975, into a Yugoslav TV-movie ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200981/ Prokletinja]''. Second time, into a 2006 ''Masters of Horror'' episode of the same title directed by Tobe Hooper.<ref>{{Citation|last=Hooper|first=Tobe|title=The Damned Thing|date=October 27, 2006|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805419/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_9|access-date=April 11, 2016}}</ref>

Don Swaim writes of Bierce's life and disappearance in ''The Assassination of Ambrose Bierce: A Love Story'' (2015).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-161498-154-1|title=Fiction book review|publisher=Publishers Weekly|access-date=July 28, 2017}}</ref>

Ambrose Bierce features as a character in Winston Groom's 2016 novel ''El Paso''. In the novel, Bierce is personally executed by Pancho Villa.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vitale |first1=Tom |title=Why It Took 'Forrest Gump' Author Nearly 20 Years To Write A New Novel |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/10/03/496412606/why-it-took-forrest-gump-author-nearly-20-years-to-write-a-new-novel |website=NPR Books |publisher=NPR |access-date=August 30, 2018}}</ref>

Weird-fiction critic and editor [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] has cited Bierce as an influence on his own work, and has praised him for his satirical wit, saying "Bierce will remain an equivocal figure in American and world literature chiefly because his dark view of humanity is, by its very nature, unpopular. Most people like writing that is cheerful and uplifting, even though a substantial proportion of the world's great literature is quite otherwise."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artsfuse.org/49835/fuse-interview-s-t-joshi-on-ambrose-bierce-the-underappreciated-genius-of-being-grim/|title=Book Interview: S.T. Joshi on Ambrose Bierce — The Underappreciated Genius of Being Grim|date=January 24, 2012|website=The Arts Fuse|language=en-US|access-date=December 8, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://stjoshi.org/intro_bierce.html|title=Introduction to A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography by Ambrose Bierce|website=stjoshi.org|access-date=December 8, 2019}}</ref>

==Works==

===Volumes published===

====Published during Bierce's lifetime====
* ''The Fiend's Delight'' (as by "Dod Grile"). (London: John Camden Hotten, 1873). Stories, satire, journalism, poetry.
* ''Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California'' (as by "Dod Grile"). (London: Chatto & Windus, 1873). Stories, satire, epigrams, journalism.
* ''Cobwebs from an Empty Skull'' (as by "Dod Grile"). (London and New York: George Routledge & Sons, 1874). Fables, stories, journalism.
* (with Thomas A. Harcourt) ''The Dance of Death'' (as by "William Herman"). (San Francisco: H. Keller & Co., 1877). Satire.
* ''Map of the Black Hills Region, Showing the Gold Mining District and the Seat of the Indian War'' (San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co., 1877). Nonfiction: map.
* ''Tales of Soldiers and Civilians'' (San Francisco: E. L. G. Steele, 1891; many subsequent editions, some under the title ''In the Midst of Life''). Fiction: stories.
* (with G. A. Danziger) ''The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter'' (Chicago: F.J. Schulte & Co., 1892). Fiction: novel (translation of ''Der Mönch von Berchtesgaden'' by Richard Voss).
* ''Black Beetles in Amber'' (San Francisco and New York: Western Authors Publishing, 1892). Poetry.
* ''Can Such Things Be? '' (New York: Cassell, 1893). Fiction: stories.
* ''How Blind Is He '' (San Francisco: F. Soulé Campbell, ''c.'' 1896). Poetry.
* ''Fantastic Fables'' (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899). Fiction: fables.
* ''Shapes of Clay'' (San Francisco: W. E. Wood George Sterling, 1903). Poetry.
* ''The Cynic's Word Book''  (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1906). Satire.
* ''A Son of the Gods and A Horseman in the Sky '' (San Francisco: Paul Elder, 1907). Fiction: stories.
* ''Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults'' (New York and Washington, D.C.: Neale Publishing, 1909). Nonfiction: precise use of words.
* ''The Shadow on the Dial and Other Essays'' S. O. Howes, ed. (San Francisco: A.M. Robertson, 1909). Collected journalism.
* ''The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce'' (New York and Washington, D.C.: Neale Publishing, 1909–1912):
** ''Volume I: Ashes of the Beacon''
** ''Volume II: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians''
** ''Volume III: Can Such Things Be?''
** ''Volume IV: Shapes of Clay''
** ''Volume V: Black Beetles in Amber''
** ''Volume VI: The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter; Fantastic Fables''
** ''Volume VII: The Devil's Dictionary''
** ''Volume VIII: Negligible Tales; On with the Dance; Epigrams''
** ''Volume IX: Tangential Views''
** ''Volume X: The Opinionator''
** ''Volume XI: Antepenultimata''
** ''Volume XII: In Motley''

====Published posthumously====

;Fiction
* ''My Favorite Murder'' (New York: Curtis J. Kirch, 1916)
* ''A Horseman in the Sky: A Watcher by the Dead: The Man and the Snake'' (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1920)
* ''Ten Tales'' (London: First Edition Club, 1925)
* ''Fantastic Debunking Fables'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], 1926)
* '' An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Other Stories'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1926)
* ''The Horseman in the Sky and Other Stories'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1926)
* ''Tales of Ghouls and Ghosts'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1927)
* ''Tales of Haunted Houses'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1927)
* ''My Favorite Murder and Other Stories'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1927)
* ''Ghost and Horror Stories'', E. F. Bleiler, ed. (New York: [[Social:Dover Publications|Dover]], 1964)
* ''The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce'', Ernest Jerome Hopkins, ed. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970)
* ''The Stories and Fables of Ambrose Bierce'', Edward Wagenknecht, ed. (Owings Mills, MD: Stemmer House, 1977)
* ''For the Ahkoond'' (West Warwick, RI: Necromomicon Press, 1980)
* '' A Horseman in the Sky '' (Skokie, IL: Black Cat Press, 1983)
* '' One Summer Night''
* '' One of the Missing: Tales of the War Between the States'' (Covelo, CA: Yolla Bolly Press, 1991)
* ''Civil War Stories'' (New York: [[Social:Dover Publications|Dover]], 1994)
* '' An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Other Stories'' (London: Penguin, 1995)
* ''The Moonlit Road and Other Ghost and Horror Stories'' (Mineola, NY: [[Social:Dover Publications|Dover]], 1998)
* ''A Deoderizer of Dead Dogs'', Carl Japikse, ed. (Alpharetta, GA: Enthea Press, 1998)
* ''The Collected Fables of Ambrose Bierce'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], ed. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000)
* ''The Short Fiction of Ambrose Bierce: A Comprehensive Edition'' (3 vols.), [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], Lawrence I. Berkove, and David E. Schultz, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 2006)
* ''Ambrose Bierce: Masters of the Weird Tale'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], ed. (Lakewood, CO: Centipede Press, 2013)
;Satire
* ''Extraordinary Opinions on Commonplace Subjects'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1927)
* ''A Cynic Looks at Life'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1927)
* ''The Sardonic Humor of Ambrose Bierce, '' George Barkin, ed. (New York: [[Social:Dover Publications|Dover]], 1963)
* ''The Fall of the Republic and Other Political Satires'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] and David E. Schultz, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 2000)

;Poetry
* ''An Invocation'' (San Francisco: John Henry Nash/Book Club of California, 1928)
* ''The Lion and the Lamb'' (Berkeley: Archetype Press, 1939)
* '' A Vision of Doom: Poems by Ambrose Bierce '', Donald Sidney-Fryer, ed. (West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant, Publisher 1980)
* ''Poems of Ambrose Bierce'', M. E. Grenander, ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1995)

;Journalism
* ''Selections from Prattle'', Carroll D. Hall, ed. (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1936)
* ''The Ambrose Bierce Satanic Reader'', Ernest Jerome Hopkins, ed. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968)
* ''Skepticism and Dissent: Selected Journalism from 1898 to 1901'', Lawrence I. Berkove, ed. (Ann Arbor: Delmas, 1980)

;Autobiography
* ''Iconoclastic Memories of the Civil War: Bits of Autobiography'' (Girard, KS: [[Biography:E. Haldeman-Julius|Haldeman-Julius]], ''c.'' 1927)
* ''Battle Sketches'' (London: First Editions Club, 1930)
* ''A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] and David E. Schultz, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1998)

;Collections of mixed types of content
* ''The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce'' (New York: Citadel Press, 1946)
* ''Ambrose Bierce's Civil War'', William McCann, ed. (Chicago: Gateway Editions, 1956)
* ''The Devil's Advocate: An Ambrose Bierce Reader'', Brian St. Pierre, ed. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1987)
* '' An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Selected Works'' (Des Moines: Perfection Form Co., 1991)
* ''Shadows of Blue and Gray: The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce'', Brian M. Thomsen, ed. (New York: Forge, 2002)
* ''Phantoms of a Blood-Stained Period: The Complete Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce'', Russell Duncan and David J. Klooster, eds. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 2002)
* ''Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], ed. (Boone, IA: Library of America, 2011)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 1: 1867–1869'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 2: 1869–1870'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 3: 1870–1871'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 4: 1871–1872'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 5: 1872–1873'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2022)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 6: 1873–1874'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 7: 1874–1875'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 8: 1875–1876'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 9: 1877–1878'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 10: 1878–1880'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 11: 1881'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 12: 1882'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 13: 1883'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 14: 1833–1884'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 15: 1884–1885'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 16: 1885'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)
* ''Collected Essays and Journalism: Volume 17: 1886'', David E. Schultz and [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], eds. (Seattle: Sarnath Press, 2023)

;Letters
* ''Containing Four Ambrose Bierce Letters'' (New York: Charles Romm, 1921)
* ''The Letters of Ambrose Bierce'', Bertha Clark Pope [and George Sterling, uncredited], eds. (San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1922)
* ''Twenty-one Letters of Ambrose Bierce'', Samuel Loveman, ed. (Cleveland: George Kirk, 1922)
* ''A Letter and a Likeness'' (n.p.: Harvey Taylor, [1930?])
* ''Battlefields and Ghosts'' (Palo Alto: Harvest Press, 1931)
* ''Ambrose Bierce: "My Dear Rearden": a Letter.'' (Berkeley: Bancroft Library Press, 1997)
* ''A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] and David E. Schultz, eds. (Columbus: Ohio State University, 2003)
* ''My Dear Mac: Three Letters'' (Berkeley: Bancroft Library Press, 2006)

===Short stories===

Ambrose Bierce was a prolific writer of short fiction. He wrote 249 short stories,<ref>''The Short Fiction of Ambrose Bierce: A Comprehensive Edition'' (3 volumes.), [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], Lawrence I. Berkove, and David E. Schultz, eds. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 2006)</ref> 846 fables,<ref>''The Collected Fables of Ambrose Bierce'', [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]], ed. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000)</ref> and more than 300 humorous Little Johnny stories.<ref>[[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] and David E. Schultz, ''Ambrose Bierce: An Annotated Bibliography of Primary Sources'', Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1999, pp. 326–27.</ref> The following list provides links to more information about notable stories by Bierce.<ref>Dates given for short stories are the earliest publication dates in magazines and newspapers according to [[Biography:S. T. Joshi|S. T. Joshi]] and David E. Schultz, ''Ambrose Bierce: An Annotated Bibliography of Primary Sources''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.</ref>

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
;War stories
* Killed at Resaca (1887)
* One of the Missing (1888)
* A Tough Tussle (1888)
* A Horseman in the Sky (1889)
* An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1890)

;Supernatural stories
* A Psychological Shipwreck (1879)
* An Inhabitant of Carcosa (1886)
* An Unfinished Race (1888)
* One of Twins (1888)
* The Spook House (1889)
{{col-2}}
* The Man and the Snake (1890)
* The Realm of the Unreal (1890)
* The Middle Toe of the Right Foot (1890)
* The Boarded Window (1891)
* The Death of Halpin Frayser (1891)
* The Secret of Macarger's Gulch (1891)
* John Bartine's Watch (1893)
* The Eyes of the Panther (1897)
* The Moonlit Road (1907)
* Beyond the Wall (1907)

;Science fiction
* The Damned Thing (1893)
* Moxon's Master (1899)

{{col-end}}

==See also==
<!-- -->
* List of horror fiction authors
* List of people who disappeared
* List of authors in war
* List of American print journalists
* List of short-story authors
* List of satirists and satires
* [[Social:Fable|Fable]]
* ''The Devil's Dictionary''
* ''Tales of Soldiers and Civilians''
* "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
* "A Wine of Wizardry*

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett |  title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | url=https://archive.org/details/checklistfantast00blei | url-access=limited | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | pages=[https://archive.org/details/checklistfantast00blei/page/n44 32], 147 | year=1948}}
* Cozzens, Peter. 1996. "The Tormenting Flame: What Ambrose Bierce Saw in a Fire-Swept Thicket at Shiloh Haunted Him for the rest of his Life." ''Civil War Times Illustrated''. April 1996. Volume XXXV (1). pp.&nbsp;44–54.
* De Castro, Adolphe (1929). ''Portrait of Ambrose Bierce'' (New York and London: Century).
* Eckhardt, Jason. "Across the Borderlands of Conjecture with Mr Bierce." ''Studies in Weird Fiction'' 4 (Fall 1988), 26–31.
* Fatout, Paul. ''Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Lexicographer''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1951.
* {{cite book |last1=Floyd |first1=E Randall |title=The Good, the Bad, and the Mad: Some Weird People in American History |year=1999 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7607-6600-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/goodbadmadsomewe0000floy }}
* Grenander, M.E. ''Ambrose Bierce''. NY: Twayne Publishers, 1971.
* McWilliams, Carey (1929; reprinted 1967). ''Ambrose Bierce: A Biography'', Archon Books.
* {{cite book | last = Morris | first = Roy | title = Ambrose Bierce: alone in bad company | publisher = Oxford University Press | place = US | orig-year = 1995 | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-0-19-512628-0}}
* {{cite book | last = Nickell | first = Joseph 'Joe' |  title = Ambrose Bierce Is Missing and Other Historical Mysteries | url = https://archive.org/details/ambrosebierceism00joen | url-access = registration | year = 1992| isbn = 978-0813117669 }}
* O'Connor, Richard (1967). ''Ambrose Bierce: a Biography'', with illustrations, Boston, Little, Brown and Company. {{ISBN?}}

== Primary sources ==
* Bierce, Ambrose. (2010) ''The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce'' (3 vol 1910) [https://books.google.com/books?id=wRtAAQAAMAAJ online]
* Bierce, Ambrose. ''The Civil War Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce'' (U of Nebraska Press, 1988). [https://archive.org/details/civilwarshortsto00bier online]
* {{cite book | last1 = Bierce | first1 = Ambrose | editor1-link = S.T. Joshi| editor1-last = Joshi | editor1-first = ST | editor2-last = Shultz | editor2-first = David E | title = A Much Misunderstood Man: Selected Letters of Ambrose Bierce | publisher = Ohio State University Press | year = 2003}}
* Bierce, Ambrose. ''The complete short stories of Ambrose Bierce'' (1970; reprint U of Nebraska Press, 1984). [https://archive.org/details/completeshortsto00bier online]
* The [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf009n97nj Ambrose Bierce Papers, 1872–1913] (2 linear ft.) and [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8736x1m Foster family collection of Ambrose Bierce materials] (3 linear feet) are housed in the [https://web.archive.org/web/20080604212605/http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html Department of Special Collections and University Archives] at [http://library.stanford.edu/ Stanford University Libraries].
* The [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf500004bp Ambrose Bierce Papers, ca. 1894–1913] and the [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7b69q9w6 Collection of Ambrose Bierce Papers, 1875–1925, bulk 1890–1913] are housed at The Bancroft Library.

==External links==
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/ambrose-bierce}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=206 | name=Ambrose Bierce}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}
* {{ISFDB name|name= Ambrose Bierce}}
* {{Librivox author |id=417}}
* {{IMDb name|0081549}}
* [http://donswaim.com/ The Ambrose Bierce Site]
* [http://www.ambrosebierce.org The Ambrose Bierce Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050324003851/http://ambrosebierce.org/ |date=March 24, 2005 }}
* [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=81284 Ambrose Bierce] at PoetryFoundation.org
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050207123645/http://rjgeib.com/thoughts/bierce/ambrose-bierce.html One of Bierce's last letters]
* [http://www.historicjournalism.com/ambrose-bierce-1.html Collected journalism of Ambrose Bierce] at the Archive of American Journalism


{{DEFAULTSORT:Bierce, Ambrose}}
[[Category:Aphorists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Ambrose Bierce}}