An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Set during the Civil War, Bierce’s story explores the effects of war on civilian life. Talley notes that during the Civil War, many people followed what she calls the hero-system. Civilians of the Civil War not only perpetuated the rhetoric of the hero-system but fell victim to it as well. This system pushed civilians to fight when they did not necessarily understand the rules of war. Peyton Farquhar falls for this rhetoric. He considers himself an expert at hanging, most likely because he has seen several of them, but he is not an expert at war. Bierce says that Farquhar “in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war” (9). Farquhar wants to seek glory and become a hero, but he is not well-versed in the art of war. He believes that because he is a civilian that no one will suspect him of burning the bridge at Owl Creek.

Bierce was part of the Ninth Indiana Infantry and was excellent at topography. Owens digs into Bierce’s past and notes that Bierce was at an Owl Creek Bridge in Tennessee where he witnessed a hanging. The circumstances were different, but the inspiration for this story stems from his viewing of the hanging. In addition, Talley notes, “The first sentence of the original 1890 version of the tale specifically sets the event in the summer of 1862, but in later versions Bierce edited out the dating” (Talley 84). Why he left the date out in future editions is unclear.

Bierce also draws on his journalistic experiences with hangings. He wrote for The Examiner, and his column “Prattle” covered several hangings. Having not only survived a wound to the head but also watched countless hangings, Bierce was known to be fixated with death. This story uses the war as a backdrop to explore what happens when someone dies.