Little Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on June 24, 1842, to a large, religious family in rural Meigs County, Ohio. Bierce lived a rather uneventful childhood before moving to Indiana at the age of fifteen to work as a printer’s apprentice. Soon after, Bierce joined the army on the North’s side during 1861. He worked primarily as a topographical engineer while experiencing some of the worst battles in the Civil War.  In one instance, he was commended as a hero for rescuing a wounded soldier at the battle of Girard Hill, West Virginia.  He eventually worked his way up to lieutenant before a head wound he suffered in 1864 would end his military career.  But in 1866 he rejoined his old general and headed west to inspect military outposts.  This landed Bierce in San Francisco where he soon settled after a short period.  He worked various places but was not pleased with any of them.  He then found work with several newspapers and began writing and publishing stories and commentaries.  In a short time, he was already becoming known in the San Francisco area. This aroused a rich young woman named Mollie Day’s attention.  The relationship blossomed into marriage in 1871, and the couple was sent to England as a wedding present. They remained there for a brief period of time while Bierce continued his writing (Wikipedia).  It was also in this year that his first story, “The Haunted Valley” appeared in newspapers (Pegasos, par. 4).

Soon he returned to San Francisco and resumed his writing career.  This time, he started working for William Randolph Hearst’s various newspapers.  During this time his three children were born and his marriage began to fall apart.  This is when Bierce did some of his best work.  Perhaps his most famous story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” was published in his book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (Pegasos, par. 5).

He began what would soon become The Devil’s Dictionary while writing cynical and brutal reviews of other writers and people.  Around 1888, one of Bierce’s sons was killed in a duel with another boy over a woman.  This and the impending doom of his marriage would fuel the already cynical Bierce with even more ammunition.  He continued to write and publish for Hearst even after his move to Washington D.C. in 1899.  Then in 1901 Bierce’s only other son died due in large part to alcohol abuse.  Shortly after, Bierce and Mollie filed for divorce.  Not even a year later, Mollie would die before the divorce was even final (ABAS).

In the last years of his life, Bierce continued to work in Washington dealing with the problems life had given him with alcoholism.  Bierce’s best days as well as his best work were behind him.  Slowly Bierce seeped out of the public eye and became less and less concerned with everyone and everything he ever loved (ABAS).  Finally, in 1913 after visiting old battlefields and friends, Bierce mailed one last letter to his daughter from Mexico and was never heard from again .