Chickamauga by Ambrose Bierce (1889) | Horror Story Narration

Narrator's Note:

War is forever. For it is ever glorified. Therein lies the horror.

 

A nugget about Ambrose Bierce:

We don't know exactly when he died. He disappeared in 1913 when he went to cover the Mexican Revolution. Thus, more importantly, let us instead know a little about how he lived.

 

He was a veteran of the American Civil War where he saw first-hand the horrors of war. His first taste of fame came as a result of his bravery at the Battle of Rich Mountain where he rescued a wounded soldier whilst under heavy fire. Eventually, he would sustain his own physical wounds, suffering an inter-cranial injury at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. This would affect him for the rest of his life, as did his asthma.

 

Yet, he would go on to be one the most renowned journalists and satirists of his day. It was only later when he would be known for his unromantic writings about war, the harsh realities which many others tend to willfully ignore. Bierce's brutal realism captured an audience unaccustomed to such raw vulgarity in books of the time. For this, he is often regarded as one of the trailblazers of the psychological horror genre.

 

Some say his experiences in battle influenced his stories, as did the tragedies of his family -- one son lost to suicide, the other to drink-related pneumonia. After he discovered that his wife had an admirer via compromising letters, she left him and died a year later. Bierce was an explorer of the dark side of the human heart. As such, he has been placed in the literary company of Voltaire, Hemingway, Poe, Lovecraft and King. But if there is one thing that makes him stand apart from such esteemed company, it is that his war stories have been called the greatest American anti-war documents.

 

Journalist. Social critic. War hero. Anti-War. Ambrose Bierce.

 

Look for more Ambrose Bierce wherever great books are found.