Ambrose Bierce's writing was without a doubt among the best of his time. His
early life consisted of two extremely religious parents and a limited education. After
unsuccessful attempts at writing poetry, Bierce decided to concentrate more on short
stories. His best ideas for short stories came from fighting in the Civil War. After fighting
in the war, he got married, had kids, and later was divorced. After the divorce it wouldn't
be long before he passed away. Ambrose Bierce would die a patriot, as well as a
Ambrose Gwinett Bierce was born June 27, 1842 in Meigs County, Ohio. Bierce
was tenth of thirteen children who all, awkwardly had names beginning with the letter
"A". (Wiggins 190) His parents, Marcus Bierce and Laura Bierce were very religious and
raised their children under strict, christian principles. His parents expected a lot out of him,
his mother being descended from the famous Puritan William Bradford and his father's
brother being distinguished as a general and a district attorney and the man who in a public
address, had blessed John Brown's venture in Kansas and provided the sabers with which
he was to chop down his captives at the Pottawatomic massacre. (Brooks 1626) Due to
his parents ways, Bierce had an unhappy childhood and grew up hating his entire family
with an exception of one brother. Although his childhood was rough and his education
wasn't great he still managed to have time to read books from his father's library. This enjoyment of his sparked his interests in writing himself. Bierce left home at the age of
fifteen to write for a local newspaper. (Madison 191) He roomed and boarded with the
editor of the newspaper for two years until he was accused of theft. When his parents
found out they were furious and sent him to military school for a year.
After being in military school, nineteen year o...