31 Facts About Ambrose Bierce

1.

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran.

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2.

Prolific and versatile writer, Ambrose Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States, and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction.

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3.

In recent decades Ambrose Bierce has gained wider respect as a fabulist and for his poetry.

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4.

In 1913, Ambrose Bierce told reporters that he was travelling to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the Mexican Revolution.

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5.

Ambrose Bierce was of entirely English ancestry: all of his forebears came to North America between 1620 and 1640 as part of the Great Puritan Migration.

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6.

Ambrose Bierce often wrote critically of both "Puritan values" and people who "made a fuss" about genealogy.

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7.

Ambrose Bierce's parents were a poor but literary couple who instilled in him a deep love for books and writing.

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8.

Ambrose Bierce grew up in Kosciusko County, Indiana, attending high school at the county seat, Warsaw.

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9.

Ambrose Bierce left home at 15 to become a printer's devil at a small abolitionist newspaper, the Northern Indianan.

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10.

Ambrose Bierce briefly attended the Kentucky Military Institute until it burned down.

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11.

Ambrose Bierce participated in the operations in Western Virginia, was present at the Battle of Philippi and received newspaper attention for his daring rescue, under fire, of a gravely wounded comrade at the Battle of Rich Mountain.

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12.

Ambrose Bierce fought at the Battle of Shiloh, a terrifying experience that became a source for several short stories and the memoir "What I Saw of Shiloh".

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13.

In June 1864, Ambrose Bierce sustained a traumatic brain injury at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and spent the rest of the summer on furlough, returning to active duty in September.

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14.

Ambrose Bierce separated from his wife in 1888, after discovering compromising letters to her from an admirer.

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15.

Ambrose Bierce was an avowed agnostic and strongly rejected the divinity of Christ.

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16.

Ambrose Bierce had lifelong asthma, 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.

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17.

In San Francisco, Ambrose Bierce was awarded the rank of brevet major before resigning from the Army.

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18.

Ambrose 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.

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19.

Ambrose Bierce lived and wrote in England from 1872 to 1875, contributing to Fun magazine.

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20.

One of the most notable of these incidents occurred following the assassination of President William McKinley, when Hearst's opponents turned a poem Ambrose Bierce had written about the assassination of Governor William Goebel of Kentucky in 1900 into a cause celebre.

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21.

Ambrose 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:.

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22.

Ambrose Bierce has been criticized by his contemporaries and later scholars for deliberately pursuing improbability and for his penchant toward "trick endings".

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23.

Skeptic Joe Nickell noted that the letter had not been found, and concluded that Ambrose Bierce deliberately concealed his true whereabouts when he finally went to a selected location in the Grand Canyon and committed suicide.

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24.

Oral tradition in Sierra Mojada, Coahuila, documented by a priest, James Lienert, states that Ambrose Bierce was executed by firing squad in the town cemetery there.

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25.

Ambrose Bierce has been fictionalized in more than 50 novels, short stories, movies, television shows, stage plays, and comic books.

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26.

Ambrose Bierce has been portrayed by such well-known authors as Ray Bradbury, Jack Finney, Carlos Fuentes, Winston Groom, Robert Heinlein, and Don Swaim.

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27.

Some works featuring a fictional Ambrose Bierce have received favorable reviews, generated international sales, or earned major awards.

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28.

Ambrose Bierce was a major character in a series of mystery books written by Oakley Hall and published between 1998 and 2006.

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29.

Ambrose Bierce has painful faults of vulgarity and cheapness of imagination.

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30.

Ambrose Bierce reappears in the future on Mount Shasta in Robert Heinlein's novella, "Lost Legacy".

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31.

Ambrose Bierce wrote 249 short stories, 846 fables, and more than 300 humorous Little Johnny stories.

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