An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

Several key battles of the Civil War hinged on the activities of individuals who did not appear on the battlefield. Union destruction of southern rail lines like the Decatur-Atlanta route was partly responsible for the North’s victory. By September, the weakened city had been captured by the Union, and shortly after this the war ended. Atlanta Confederates suffered greatly from lack of supplies as a result.

With thirty miles of track destroyed in this way, rail contact with Atlanta was eliminated.

Union soldiers burned the wooden railroad ties until they were hot enough to allow the iron rails above them to be bent. He ordered one of his generals to cut the rail line that connected Decatur, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, which was a Confederate stronghold. Sherman tried to cut off supplies to the Confederate army. In the spring of 1864, for example, Union general William T. Many famous battles were won or lost because of the use or destruction of railroads. Used to transport troops, supplies, and food, railroads were usually the most efficient route from one site to another. The idea of using railroads to fight a war may seem strange today, but at the time of the American Civil War, tracks and locomotives played an extremely important role in military maneuvers. A civilian, Farquhar hoped to protect Confederate soldiers from attack by tampering with the railroad line. Peyton Farquhar, the main character in Bierce’s short story, is slated to be hung not for murder, rape, or some other violent crime, but for attempting to destroy a railroad bridge. Events in History at the Time the Short Story Takes Place Railroads in the Civil War Despite its unconventional style, this story provided one of the first realistic portrayals of the horrors of the war.

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is the most famous of these stories.

He had also stored up enough memories to provide material for nineteen short stories about the war. By the time the war ended in 1865, he had fought in numerous major battles, worked as a military mapmaker, and been severely wounded in the head. In September 1861, just a few months after the Civil War broke out, nineteen-year-old Ambrose Bierce joined the Union army in Indiana. A short story set in Alabama during the American Civil War, around 1863 published in 1891.Ī Confederate civilian being hung by Union soldiers vividly imagines making an escape.Įvents in History at the Time the Short Story Takes PlaceĮvents in History at the Time the Short Story Was Written

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce