Summaries
Ambrose Bierce captured the story of a foolish lieutenant named Herman Brayle in Killed at Resaca. Brayle is someone who always wears his complete uniform while on duty but is highly inconsistent in battles. Such has led Brayle to face questioning from his superiors, although he never really changed his attitude. Yet one day, when an order tasked Brayle to deliver a letter, he took the more dangerous path going to the place of his destination. Prancing in an open field riddled by bullet shots, Brayle braved the open fire even up to the point when the Confederates successfully killed him. The narrator then discovered the letter from among the things Brayle left behind. The letter, addressed to the wife of Brayle, noted that she did not want her husband to show cowardice while at war. Yet, the narrator did not tell the wife of Brayle that her husband has actually become heroic, instead telling her that he died because “he was bitten by a snake” (Bierce 68).
The Affair at Coulter’s Notch is a story of a Union captain named Coulter whose obedience in following orders from his superiors eventually landed him to failure. Captain Coulter received a command to transfer one of his cannons from his assigned artillery in order to aim towards a strategic portion within the position of the Confederates. When captain Coulter refused to do so, one Union member suspected that he acted in accordance to his Southern heritage. After the duel between Union and Confederate soldiers, captain Coulter and his co-soldiers went out with tattered clothing and dark skin, leading their co-Union soldiers to describe him as “demons of the pit” (Bierce 73).
Bierce has written about friendship in the midst of warfare in The Coup de Grace. Two friends, Captain Downing Madwell and Sergeant Caffal Halcrow, stayed within the same infantry but eventually parted ways due to a rule separating officers from non-commissioned officers. Yet, Major Creede Halcrow, the brother of Caffal, is an enemy of Downing. Eventually, Caffal was able to resolve the conflict between his brother and friend. Yet, Downing “rose to his feet and drew his sword from the scabbard” to euthanize Caffal because the latter has suffered from a fatal injury during a battle, with the former wanting his friend not to suffer much longer anymore (Bierce 81).
In Parker Adderson, Philosopher, Bierce tells the story of a spy named Parker Adderson captured by the Confederates. The capture of Parker made almost certain his death before the next sunrise. However, the sheer wittiness of Parker enabled him to address his captors for a challenge. The conversation and challenge Parker had with his captors has shown how a spy shared a relationship with his enemies, most notably with the leader, the general . At the end of the story, Parker “was shot to death by twenty men” (Bierce 88).
An Affair of Outputs tells the story of betrayal from an enlisted Union soldier. Armisted, a married man, finds out that his wife has cheated on him while the Civil War was ongoing. Devastated and wanting to stay away from his home, Armisted made the decision to become a soldier of the Union army, where he fought against the Confederates. The decision of Armisted to join the army grew from the fact that he wished to escape to a safer place away from his home, which was somewhat impossible given the destructive consequences the Civil War brought unto the people. For Armisted, he is qualified to join the Union army not because he is “much of a patriot, but I wish to be dead” (Bierce 90).
Bierce provided a challenge against the commonly held misconception towards soldiers at war in his story The Story of a Conscience. The story, which noted the story of Union and Confederate soldiers in the battlefield, noted that soldiers share stronger affiliation with one another than with the people outside their duty, even though they belong to different factions that are at war with one another. Conscience, in the context of this story, lies within complications caused by warfare to soldiers that involves trust and loyalty as told through the story of captain Parrol Hatroy, who “held an independent company” (Bierce 100).
One Kind of Officer is an account of Bierce that sufficiently encapsulates the idea that warfare is a problem caused by humans, which have severe limitations. The linear theme of the story centers on a battle between Union and Confederate soldiers amidst blurry fog affecting their vision. General Cameron of the Union has given an order that is contrary to what many of his subordinates think is the correct action. Cameron sufficiently embodied human fallibility in the story as he said, “it is not permitted to you to know anything. It is sufficient that you obey my order—which permit me to repeat” (Bierce 105).
Suppressing cowardice in the midst of war is at the center of the controversy presented in George Thurston. The main character, George Thurston, is a stiff and reserved Union soldier whose awkward disposition in times of war is always apparent. George met his fate one day when he joined a group of soldiers in the camp using a swing for amusement. When George went for the swing, he knew that he feared heights but pushed through with pushing himself too far from the anchorage of the swing, which led him flying towards the ground with his arms folded. The soldiers, who have warned George of the grisly consequence, called him the “man in the sky” (Bierce 118).
The Mocking-Bird tells the story of two separated brothers, John and William Grayrock. William is serving the Union as they lost contact with their deceased mother when their kin separated them. One night, William was serving as a guard in the woods when he shot a man, who happened to be John under the service of the Confederates. Whereas praise followed the action of William for serving the protection of the Union forces, he eventually disappeared after learning that he killed John, for “[a]t roll-callthe name William Grayrock brought no response, nor ever again thereafter “ (Bierce 123).
Annotations
Separation and high regard for personal relationships served as two prevailing themes in the foregoing stories of Bierce. Killed at Resaca showed how a cowardly Union soldier changed his attitude upon realizing that his wife does not want him scared in the battlefield, which eventually led to his death. Coulter in The Affair at Coulter’s Notch experienced alienation from his Union company simply because of his Southern heritage and refusal to take orders against Confederates. The Coup de Grace is a story of a lasting friendship that prevailed over personal conflicts but ultimately culminating through death by euthanasia. A spy-general relationship theme emerged in Parker Adderson, Philosopher, wherein the main character sought to outwit the general who captured him for espionage. An Affair of Outputs seemed like an escape from the reality of betrayal to the sordid world of warfare brought forth by the wish of death of the main character. Relationships between rival and grouped soldiers alike featured prominently in The Story of a Conscience. One Kind of Officer sought to tackle the cause of war through the foolish assertiveness of a general as against his subordinates. George Thurston shows the relationship of the main character with himself in confronting his fear. Finally, The Mocking-Bird shows how despair flowed from the main character as he accidentally shot his long-lost brother that happened to have served for a rival faction. Overall, Bierce sought to portray how the Civil War has affected the personal lives of individuals as he shows that all those who suffered from the violence it brought has gone through various kinds of ordeals (Bierce 63-124).
Works Cited
Bierce, Ambrose. Civil War Stories. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. 1994. Print.
