An Affair of Outposts
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Ambrose Bierce’s “An Affair of Outposts” mixes melodrama with graphic combat writing to tell the story of an ill-fated love triangle. Betrayed by his wife, a young man with southern sympathies requests a commission in the Union Army from the Governor of his State. The Governor is reluctant but the man convinces him he “wishes to be dead”. When the governor visits the regiment during a battle, the young captain dies saving his life. The ending is classic Bierce, with an ironic twist that reveals the deeper drama underlying the story.
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce was an American writer, critic and war veteran. Bierce fought for the Union Army during the American Civil War, eventually rising to the rank of brevet major before resigning from the Army following an 1866 expedition across the Great Plains. Bierce’s harrowing experiences during the Civil War, particularly those at the Battle of Shiloh, shaped a writing career that included editorials, novels, short stories and poetry. Among his most famous works are “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” “The Boarded Window,” “Chickamauga,” and What I Saw of Shiloh. While on a tour of Civil-War battlefields in 1913, Bierce is believed to have joined Pancho Villa’s army before disappearing in the chaos of the Mexican Revolution.
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