Misplaced Pages

#863136

52-462: Chickamauga may refer to: Entertainment [ edit ] "Chickamauga", an 1889 short story by American author Ambrose Bierce "Chickamauga", a 1937 short story by Thomas Wolfe "Chickamauga", a song by Uncle Tupelo from their 1993 album Anodyne Chickamauga (film) , a 1962 short film by Robert Enrico based on Bierce's story Military [ edit ] Battle of Chickamauga in

104-510: A 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: 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. Hearst was thereby accused by rival newspapers—and by then- Secretary of War Elihu Root —of having called for McKinley's assassination. Despite

156-473: A "feminine" insecurity and desire to impress one's fellows. The war stories are also notable for their frank portrayal of wounds not only to soldiers, but also to women (in "Chickamauga") and children (in "The Affair at Coulter's Notch"), an approach which was very rare in Bierce's day. This gruesome physical cost of war is then juxtaposed, often explicitly, with the idealized portrait of war presented by some of

208-849: A fictional Ambrose Bierce have received favorable reviews, generated international sales, 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. Chambers in turn went on to influence H. P. Lovecraft and much of modern horror fiction. In 1918, H. L. Mencken called Bierce "the one genuine wit that These States have ever seen." At least three films have been made of Bierce's story " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge ". A silent film version, The Bridge ,

260-476: A national uproar that ended his ambitions for the presidency (and even his membership in the Bohemian Club ), Hearst kept employing Bierce. 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". Bierce's works often highlight

312-589: A profit despite increased circulation of the San Francisco Examiner . Robert O. Cornthwaite appears as Sam Chamberlain. 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. Fuentes stated: "What started this novel was my admiration for Ambrose Bierce and for his Tales of Soldiers and Civilians ." Two adaptations were made of Bierce's story "Eyes of

364-792: A stream in Georgia Chickamauga Creek , tributary of the Tennessee River Other [ edit ] Chickamauga (tug boat) , first diesel powered tug boat built in the United States Chickamauga Cherokee , a band of the Native American tribe following chief Dragging Canoe "The Rock of Chickamauga", a nickname for Gen. George Henry Thomas , from his service in the Battle of Chickamauga Topics referred to by

416-590: A terrifying experience that became a source for several short stories and the memoir "What I Saw of Shiloh". In April 1863 he was commissioned a first lieutenant , and served on the staff of General William Babcock Hazen as a topographical engineer , making maps of likely battlefields. 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

468-532: A trace , one of the most famous disappearances in American literary history. Bierce's ultimate fate remains 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

520-660: Is among our three greatest writers." When told this, Bierce responded, "I am sure Mr. Howells is the other two." Bierce married Mary Ellen "Mollie" Day on December 25, 1871. They had three children: sons Day (1872–1889) and Leigh (1874–1901) 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), and Leigh died of pneumonia related to alcoholism. Bierce separated from his wife in 1888, after discovering compromising letters to her from an admirer. They divorced in 1904. Mollie Day Bierce died

572-632: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – c.  1914 ) 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 . His story " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge " has been described as "one of

SECTION 10

#1732765690864

624-496: Is euthanasia!" Skeptic 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. Partington concluded that Bierce deliberately concealed his true whereabouts when he finally went to a selected location in the Grand Canyon and died as a result of suicide. There was an official investigation by U.S. consular officials of

676-665: 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", it consists of satirical definitions of English words which lampoon 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 " trick endings ". In his later stories, apparently under

728-650: 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

780-611: 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. 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 ,

832-548: The New York Tribune wrote that "These tales are so original as to defy comparison... weird and curious... There's nothing like it in fiction." However, because Bierce's Tales of Soldiers and Civilians occur during the Civil War, it is often compared with Stephen Crane 's The Red Badge of Courage . Contemporary reviews suggested that Bierce's writing had comparatively more value, evidenced by such reviews as by

884-591: The Rochester Post-Express , which stated: "Bierce's pictures of the Civil War are vastly more valuable than Crane's 'Red Badge of Courage'", and by the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune : "Bierce's work shows far more imagination and a better grasp of thought and events than Crane's." Bierce served as a union soldier during the Civil War and his experiences as a soldier served as an inspiration for his writing, particularly for

936-574: The 1898 publication, but were not entirely collectively retained in the 1909 edition. Four of these were transferred by Bierce into his collection Collected Works, Can Such Things Be? In a similar fashion, Bierce moved eight stories into the 1909 version of In the Midst of Life from the 1893 edition of Can Such Things Be? Sixteen of the original stories were initially published in the San Francisco Examiner . Near publication,

988-833: The American Civil War Cherokee–American wars , between the Chickamauga Cherokee and Anglo-American settlers, 1776–1794 Chickamauga Campaign , Civil War battles in northwestern Georgia, 1863 Places [ edit ] Chickamauga, Georgia Chickamauga Lake , on the Tennessee River Chickamauga Dam , a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee Rivers [ edit ] Chickamauga Creek (Chattahoochee River) ,

1040-484: The Great Puritan Migration. He often wrote critically of "Puritan values" and people who "made a fuss" about genealogy. 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. His mother

1092-404: The Midst of Life . George Sterling , in the introduction to a later (1927) edition, noted that as a result of "obtuse critics and a benighted public", the book failed to become the sensation Bierce had expected. The original publication contained nineteen stories, while those in later publications increased in number; 1898 to 22, and 1909 to 26. The original nineteen stories were retained in

SECTION 20

#1732765690864

1144-473: The Panther". One version was developed for Shelley Duvall 's Nightmare Classics series and was released in 1990. It runs about 60 minutes. A shorter version was released in 2007 by director Michael Barton and runs about 23 minutes. Bierce was a major character in a series of mystery books written by Oakley Hall and published between 1998 and 2006. Biographer Richard O'Connor argued that, "War

1196-532: The Sky is eleven pages long, yet has four parts. In 1892 and 1898, Bierce gradually expanded Tales by adding new stories (e.g., " The Eyes of the Panther "). In his Collected Works , several stories with supernatural elements (e.g., "A Tough Tussle") were relocated from Tales to another book, Can Such Things Be? Many critics have noted the collection's heavy irony, particularly in its depictions of heroism and war. Those soldiers who aspire to "manly" virtues on

1248-627: The Soldiers section. In this way, Bierce's war treatments anticipate and parallel Ernest Hemingway 's later arrival, whereas the civilian tales later influence horror writers. The Federal cannoneers fought their hopeless battle in an atmosphere of living iron whose thoughts were lightnings and whose deeds were death. Since the book is a compilation of short stories, there is not an overarching plot. However, there are literary elements, or plot devices, that are shared throughout. Bierce's stories often begin mid-plot, with relevant details withheld until

1300-620: The Treasurer of the United States." 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 . Bierce's long newspaper career

1352-399: 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 $ 4.76 billion today). In January 1896 Hearst dispatched Bierce to Washington, D.C. , to foil this attempt. The essence of the plot

1404-489: The battlefield often only add to the horrors of the war around them, such as Lieutenant Brayle of "Killed at Resaca", whose brave sacrifice inspires a hundred men to charge needlessly into certain death, or "The Affair at Coulter's Notch", in which an officer's sense of duty causes him to knowingly shell his own home, killing his family. Bierce's stories can thus be read as evoking a "crisis of masculine identity" in which exaggeratedly "masculine" behavior paradoxically stems from

1456-607: 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. U.S. Army chief of staff Hugh L. Scott contacted Pancho Villa's U.S. representative Felix A. Sommerfeld , and Sommerfeld investigated the disappearance. Bierce was said to have been last seen in the city of Chihuahua in January. Oral tradition in Sierra Mojada , Coahuila documented by priest James Lienert states that Bierce

1508-506: The end, where the dramatic resolution unfolds unexpectedly, to a degree where most are considered twist endings. His characters were described by George Sterling as: "His heroes, or rather victims, are lonely men, passing to unpredictable dooms, and hearing, from inaccessible crypts of space, the voices of unseen malevolencies." The book is divided into two segments—Soldiers and Civilians. Within these short stories, Bierce's uses Roman numerals to demarcate segments. For example, A Horseman in

1560-549: The following year. Bierce was an avowed agnostic and strongly rejected the divinity of Christ . He 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. 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

1612-417: The greatest satirist America has ever produced, and in this regard can take his place with such figures as Juvenal , Swift , and Voltaire . His war stories influenced Stephen Crane , Ernest Hemingway , and others, and he was considered an influential and feared literary critic. In recent decades, Bierce has gained wider respect as a fabulist and for his poetry. In 1913, Bierce told reporters that he

Chickamauga - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-424: The honor and glory of war from people who'd never seen or experienced it personally. According to Milton Subotsky , Bierce helped pioneer the psychological horror story. 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

1716-447: The influence of Maupassant , Bierce "dedicated himself to shocking the audience", as if his purpose was "to attack the reader's smug intellectual security". Bierce's bias towards Naturalism has also been noted: "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". Stephen Crane

1768-525: The inscrutability of the universe and the absurdity of death . Bierce wrote realistically of the terrible things he had seen in the war 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". To the end of his life, nothing would so infuriate him as hearing accounts of

1820-648: 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. In June 1864, 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. 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

1872-647: The most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", 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. A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction. For his horror writing, Michael Dirda ranked him alongside Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft . S. T. Joshi speculates that he may well be

1924-406: The preface to the first edition, Bierce maintained that the book had been "denied existence by the chief publishing houses of the country." He credited the eventual publication of the book to his friend, Mr. E. L. G. Steele, a merchant from San Francisco , who was listed with the 1891 copyright. In 1898, Tales was republished along with other stories by G.P. Putnam's Sons under the title In

1976-471: The pseudonym "Dod Grile". 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

2028-419: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Chickamauga . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chickamauga&oldid=1147391943 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

2080-623: 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),

2132-450: The story had been adapted as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents . 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

Chickamauga - Misplaced Pages Continue

2184-403: The unexplained disappearances of Ambrose Bierce and Ambrose Small , and asked, "Was somebody collecting Ambroses?" 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

2236-657: Was a descendant of William Bradford . His parents were a poor but literary couple who instilled in him a deep love for books and writing. Bierce grew up in Kosciusko County , Indiana, attending high school at the county seat , Warsaw . He left home at 15 to become a printer's devil at a small abolitionist newspaper, the Northern Indianan . Bierce briefly attended the Kentucky Military Institute until it burned down. At

2288-557: 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 , eventually becoming one of the most prominent and influential writers and journalists on the West Coast . He remained associated with Hearst Newspapers until 1909. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies had received large, low-interest loans from

2340-575: Was executed by firing squad in the town's cemetery. 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 Ray Bradbury , Jack Finney , Carlos Fuentes , Winston Groom , Robert Heinlein , and Don Swaim. Some works featuring

2392-514: 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 . 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. After closing this letter by saying, "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination," he vanished without

2444-409: Was made in 1929 by Charles Vidor . A French version called La Rivière du Hibou , directed by Robert Enrico , was released in 1962; 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 ". Prior to The Twilight Zone ,

2496-491: Was of the minority of Bierce's contemporaries who valued Bierce's experimental short stories. In his essay " Supernatural Horror in Literature ", 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 . Critic and novelist William Dean Howells said, "Mr. Bierce

2548-456: 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

2600-474: 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,

2652-482: 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." Essayist 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 misanthropy , too, will help to keep him alive." Tales of Soldiers and Civilians In

SECTION 50

#1732765690864

2704-529: Was travelling to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the Mexican Revolution . He disappeared and was never seen again. 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. He was of entirely English ancestry: all of his forebears came to North America between 1620 and 1640 as part of

#863136