An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

By Ambrose Bierce

This classic short story of a Southern plantation owner facing execution by Union soldiers is “a flawless example of American genius” (Kurt Vonnegut).

Alabama planter Peyton Farquhar was loyal to the Confederate cause. Now, as the Union Army overtakes the South, he is brought to the edge of a railroad bridge—hands tied behind his back—sentenced to hang for attempting to burn down the bridge on which he stands. As he ponders the events both large and small that brought him to this moment, Farquhar also contemplates a daring escape.

First published in 1890, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is one of the most celebrated short stories in American literature. Included in Ambrose Bierce’s anthology, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, its unique structure and stream of consciousness style have inspired numerous adaptions and countless imitators.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Nov 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781504080286

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was an American novelist and short story writer. Born in Meigs County, Ohio, Bierce was raised Indiana in a poor family who treasured literature and extolled the value of education. Despite this, he left school at 15 to work as a printer’s apprentice, otherwise known as a “devil”, for the Northern Indianan, an abolitionist newspaper. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Union infantry and was present at some of the conflict’s most harrowing events, including the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. During the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864, Bierce—by then a lieutenant—suffered a serious brain injury and was discharged the following year. After a brief re-enlistment, he resigned from the Army and settled in San Francisco, where he worked for years as a newspaper editor and crime reporter. In addition to his career in journalism, Bierce wrote a series of realist stories including “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Chickamauga,” which depict the brutalities of warfare while emphasizing the psychological implications of violence. In 1906, he published The Devil’s Dictionary, a satirical dictionary compiled from numerous installments written over several decades for newspapers and magazines. In 1913, he accompanied Pancho Villa’s army as an observer of the Mexican Revolution and disappeared without a trace at the age of 71.

Book preview

I

A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees. Some loose boards laid upon the ties supporting the rails of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners—two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff. At a short remove upon the same temporary platform was an officer in the uniform of his rank, armed. He was a captain. A sentinel at each end of the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as support, that is to say, vertical in front of the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight across the chest—a formal and unnatural position, enforcing an erect carriage of the body. It did not appear to be the duty of these two men to know what was occurring at

Reviews for An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

[rosands-494665 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great classic horror stories. I enjoyed them.

[et.carole · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good. Twisty ending.

[altheaann · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An extremely effective study of the state of mind of a man about to be hanged, during the Civil War. The vivid realism is undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that Bierce himself was a member of the Union Army. Perhaps he even was involved in a similar execution?

[a_wondrous_bookshelf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dark, sad, morbid and lovely!

[athenable · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite short story. Bierce was brilliant.

[dulac3_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A near perfect shorty story. I remember reading this, and seeing a television adaptation in class, while I was in junior high and being blown away. I wasn't used to being blown away by books we were supposed to read for school and this was one of the first times where I got an inkling of what fiction could do...though at the time I didn't really understand that; all I knew was that it was very cool.

[shadowofthewind · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I remember this story first from watching the Twilight Zone episode it was based on. A man facing death, finds a way to escape, or does he? I would recommend The Secret Miracle by Jorge Borges if you liked this.

[terpsichoreus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In Asia, aphorism is a high art; there, the greatest of poems may be said in one breath. In the West, our greatest poems come in books numbered twelve, and only the greatest of men can remember the length of them.However, we still maintain our aphorists, though often consider them as comical wits, would do well to remember the skill of indicating truth is with them. There is the poet, Nietzsche, who is also a philosopher and who summed up the goal of the aphorist well: "It is my...more In Asia, aphorism is a high art; there, the greatest of poems may be said in one breath. In the West, our greatest poems come in books numbered twelve, and only the greatest of men can remember the length of them.However, we still maintain our aphorists, though often consider them as comical wits, would do well to remember the skill of indicating truth is with them. There is the poet, Nietzsche, who is also a philosopher and who summed up the goal of the aphorist well: "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a whole book — what everyone else does not say in a whole book." There is the politician, Disraeli, who found that ruling men meant understanding a plural and remarkable simplicity. There is the self-concerned wit Wilde, who told us that genius lies in misunderstanding and is so widely and unknowingly quoted that it is a cliche.Speak what you will of Twain, but Bierce is America's entreant into the minute art; Twain would admit as much, himself. Indeed, Clemens considered 'The Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge' to be the single greatest short story of all Americans.The man who copies the Psalms onto a grain of rice has condensed space, but the author who places the depth of a book into a short story has condensed meaning. The utterly deliberate and unfettered Owl Creek is a difinitively superior work, just as the man who strikes the bull's eye with his arrow by chance is never the equal to the one that may do so at his leisure.There is an old French film which makes an excellent adaptation of this work, and which was once featured on the Twilight Zone, if that lends any notion of its quality.