Shadows of Blue & Gray : The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce

by Ambrose Bierce, Brian M. Thomsen (Editor)

Ambrose Bierce didn't just write about the Civil War, he lived through it--on the front lines, across the battlefields, and over the graves--and in so doing gave birth to a literary chronicle of men at war previously unseen in the American literary canon.

The fact that some of these stories verge on the supernatural, others on factual reporting, and others on the fine line between humor and morbidity in no way detracts from their resonance to both the history of the war between the states and the imaginative historical literature of America begun by Washington Irving.

Shadows of Blue & Gray collects all of Bierce's Civil War stories and also includes six excerpts from his memoirs recalling his experiences on the front lines.
--front flap

Chickamauga
A Horseman in the Sky
Parker Adderson, Philosopher
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Two Military Executions
The Mocking-Bird
A Tough Tussle
The Major's Tale
A Son of the Gods
A Man with Two Lives
One of the Missing
The Coup de Grace
Killed at Resaca
The Affair at Coulter's Notch
An Affair of Outposts
One Kind of Officer
One Officer, One Man
George Thurston
Three and One Are One
A Baffled Ambuscade
A Resumed Identity
A Jug of Sirup
Jupiter Doke, Brigadier-General
The Other Lodgers
The Spook House
On a Mountain
What I Saw of Shiloh
A Little of Chickamauga
The Crime at Pickett's Mill
Four Days in Dixie
What Occurred at Franklin
'Way Down in Alabam'
A Sole Survivor
A Bivouac of the Dead

Genres: Civil War, Short Stories, Fiction

284 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

died perhaps 1914

Caustic wit and a strong sense of horror mark works, including In the Midst of Life (1891-1892) and The Devil's Dictionary (1906), of American writer Ambrose Gwinett Bierce.

People today best know this editorialist, journalist, and fabulist for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his lexicon.

The informative sardonic view of human nature alongside his vehemence as a critic with his motto, "nothing matters," earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce."

People knew Bierce despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, to encourage younger poet George Sterling and fiction author W.C. Morrow.

Bierce employed a distinctive style especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.

Bierce disappeared in December 1913 at the age of 71 years. People think that he traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on ongoing revolution of that country.

Theories abound on a mystery, ultimate fate of Bierce. He in one of his final letters stated: "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!"

Reviews

[Bill S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrates the horrors of the Civil War. The stories are short and the endings surprise the reader. He can be verbose without necessarily being eloquent. Some have a hint of the supernatural, others realistic.

The best:

Chickamauga - Begins with a child playing war. He falls asleep and finds himself in the midst of a real battle with wounded men dragging themselves to the river to drink. At the end he finds his home destroyed and his mother's mangled body. Then it is revealed that he is deaf and mute. Thus, he slept through the transformation from play to reality.

The Mocking Bird - Can't say if the incredible coincidence of the man shooting his own twin brother happened in his dream or was a reality. In either case, it is a symbolic story of the tragedy of a war which pit countryman against countryman. There are two other stories in the collection in which people are forced to kill relatives.

Coup de Grace - Exceptional. A man finds himself killing his best friend to spare him the agony and possibly being eaten by wild boards, only to find that a team of stretcher bearers and a hated rival officer have arrived just in time to witness the scene.

Occurrence at Owl Creek - The classic.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As expected, stellar writing and commentary in the retelling of these civil war experiences. Some of them are absolutely brutal. I feel like if more people read accounts of war similar to this, rather than glorifications or justifications of it, we would all have a better grasp of the savage absurdity of the practice. Even though Bierce was enlisted on the side of the Union (as a topographical engineer), his relative objectivity and attention to detail are simply stunning. Selections from this book should be required reading for American History courses.

[Ian Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is an absolute scorcher - macabre as Fudge.

[Straw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never really knew about Ambrose Bierce until reading this Republic of Suffering. That being said, I love his sardonic writings about fighting in a war that at times seemed absurd. Very dark but enjoyable reading.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are quite macabre stories but then I guess war is. I am going through a phase of american civil war writings at the moment and this and the red badge of courage are very true in their depictions of war.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mix of short stories and experiential writing from the civil war--truly horrifying!

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably very well written but it was just too horrifying for me to get through