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What I Saw at Shiloh
In this missive Ambrose Bierce recounts two days in his life; April 6 and April 7, 1862, perhaps the two most significant days of his life. He and over 100,000 other combatants have gathered about a small church near the town of Corinth, "a wretched place--the capital of a swamp, two days' march west of the Tennessee River". The church is Shiloh, and it will lend its name to the great battle that took place there.
23 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 11, 2012
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51 people want to read
About the author
Ambrose Bierce
2,449 books1,313 followersdied perhaps 1914
Caustic wit and a strong sense of horror mark works, including In the Midst of Life (1891-1892) and The Devil's Dictionary (1906), of American writer Ambrose Gwinett Bierce.
People today best know this editorialist, journalist, and fabulist for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his lexicon.
The informative sardonic view of human nature alongside his vehemence as a critic with his motto, "nothing matters," earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce."
People knew Bierce despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, to encourage younger poet George Sterling and fiction author W.C. Morrow.
Bierce employed a distinctive style especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.
Bierce disappeared in December 1913 at the age of 71 years. People think that he traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on ongoing revolution of that country.
Theories abound on a mystery, ultimate fate of Bierce. He in one of his final letters stated: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"
Caustic wit and a strong sense of horror mark works, including In the Midst of Life (1891-1892) and The Devil's Dictionary (1906), of American writer Ambrose Gwinett Bierce.
People today best know this editorialist, journalist, and fabulist for his short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and his lexicon.
The informative sardonic view of human nature alongside his vehemence as a critic with his motto, "nothing matters," earned him the nickname "Bitter Bierce."
People knew Bierce despite his reputation as a searing critic, however, to encourage younger poet George Sterling and fiction author W.C. Morrow.
Bierce employed a distinctive style especially in his stories. This style often embraces an abrupt beginning, dark imagery, vague references to time, limited descriptions, the theme of war, and impossible events.
Bierce disappeared in December 1913 at the age of 71 years. People think that he traveled to Mexico to gain a firsthand perspective on ongoing revolution of that country.
Theories abound on a mystery, ultimate fate of Bierce. He in one of his final letters stated: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 1, 2016
Ambrose Bierce was an interesting character. He spent most of his life as a journalist, a critic, and a short story writer. But in his early days in his teens and early twenties he was a Union soldier in the Civil War. His experiences there provided him with much of his inspiration for his short stories. And that's the case here with this, his account of the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. This battle in the heart of western Tennessee on the banks of the Tennessee River was one of the bloodiest of the Civil War with over 23,000 casualties and losses on both sides. Bierce was a 1st lieutenant, he was 19 years old.
"The residents around Pittsburg Landing Tennessee had built a church. This humble edifice, centrally situated in the heart of a solitude, had been christened Shiloh Chapel, whence the name of the battle. This Christian church giving name to a wholesale cutting of Christian throats by Christian hands".
Ambrose Bierce is best remembered for his story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", generally considered one of America's very best short stories. He disappeared in 1914 while working as a journalist, traveling with Mexican rebels during the Mexican Revolution.
"The residents around Pittsburg Landing Tennessee had built a church. This humble edifice, centrally situated in the heart of a solitude, had been christened Shiloh Chapel, whence the name of the battle. This Christian church giving name to a wholesale cutting of Christian throats by Christian hands".
Ambrose Bierce is best remembered for his story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", generally considered one of America's very best short stories. He disappeared in 1914 while working as a journalist, traveling with Mexican rebels during the Mexican Revolution.
March 23, 2025
Uncanny is the flower language that settles over the ravages of war. Bierce’s dedication to evoking dread & hope in the language he used while penning scenes of terror over American soil reveals the man to be in possession of a skill seldom seen. When beginning, the story leaves a reader with a calm enthusiasm for what will be held behind every punctuation & slight hum in the pallet of the author; one is in the company of greatness.
Yet Bierce does not write for the modern reader. With language that far supersedes modern abilities, the reader of today, one who can hardly fulfill a page’s worth of letters, might lack the gumption required to absorb the material at hand. I found myself curiously in the middle ground, looking over my shoulder at a group I loath to join myself while simultaneously pondering the detail of battlegrounds & slit throats that left me apathetic.
In essence, this is a story about the arrival of Union Soldiers to Shiloh. Bierce recounts the battles that the Union & Confederate Soldiers fought, & their gruelling desire to no longer engage in bloodshed as they witnessed the ease with which death claims all. The characters in this story appear as shadows, their presence seems to indicate that the victor in the American Civil War was the invisible demise that led all to perish, if not physically, psychologically, returning to society burdened by the brutality they inflicted on their neighbours.
Early on, I found myself struggling to stay focused. The world of today resembles the darkened valour that Bierce describes in the soldier’s quest. One is left with an important question to answer: Who decides whether it is honourable to engage in war?
Upon exploring the riverways, the wielding knives, the lacerated soft skin, the bruised eye sockets, & blazed grass, a reader may feel the need to seek clarity in material that is not so linguistically brutal in its presentation.
Bierce’s story is long. At times, I wandered along with the character as he rambled about a woman who held weapons in the event she should need to use them & wondered about the world where the narrator wandered in memories. On occasion, my mind drifted back to the surrealism presented alongside these flashes of cruelty. It is difficult to hold stable footing when bombs leave one senselessly numb to the world around them. I persevered in my reading.
I should not wish my rambling to appear trite. I highlight my experience with the material to draw attention to the story’s flow. The introduction felt like a soothing float down the river, while the narrator’s description of wandering through blood-soaked fields, past decaying bodies, & men desperate for freedom, pushed me to the back of the ranks. I remain curious as to why.
Certainly, the body of the text is where the weight of its impact lies. The narrator takes special care to reflect on the consequences of hope that might be found in the assumed honour one holds when going to fight for one’s prerogative, values, & truths.
In reality, what each soldier found was devilish proximity to their demise. This reminded me of the final chapters in Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” (1873). In an attempt to spare the reader from having the book spoiled, I will keep this brief.
Tolstoy presents his readers with the conundrum of war & the sentiment of nationalism that accompanies citizens when setting out to battle. This section, as with Bierce’s story, may be interpreted in different ways depending on the reader. The questions remain the same, regardless of the political landscape. However, their truths may impact readers to varying degrees as the States shift their allegiances. Therefore, one should ponder the philosophical question of the ages: What is the benefit of War?
This review will not seek to respond to that question. What Tolstoy & Bierce allow their readers to ponder is the sentiment intertwined with war. A State decides to engage or refrain from conflict & thus, its citizens are either named as sacrifices or allowed to live unbothered.
What is a person meant to feel with regard to this reality? While Bierce’s narrator wanders along the unmarked graves, translating what he sees, hears, & feels, the reader is meant to be patient. Between the two, the simplicity of the tale overwhelms the senses.
History, as a thing of the past, lurking to meddle in the present, reveals itself unceremoniously. The narrator could be any man who has ever been called to defend his country, any man who has followed instructions to defeat the enemy—the strange man. What is uniquely devastating is the circumstances. Neither man held by death nor propped by life’s breath are total strangers to one another. Bierce’s sentimentality with regard to the flamboyant intimacy of humanity is felt powerfully in what he writes.
The narrator’s experiences remain relevant for all readers, though not all will wander the caverns of open landscape, forests, fires, & rivers, beside him as he stagnates over the grooves where his countrymen fell to their deaths. I’m not sure whether I can fault any reader for not wishing to walk through a land where no man should wander.
As I found the cruel pacing of the story a dull reminder of the troubles that befall those around me, those strangers I cannot know, the story gripped my pondering mind, striking me with the pendulum as it pivots.
Ultimately, though this review has not said much of anything at all, I encourage readers to make their way to the literary talents that Bierce has left us with. This was not a story that was a favourite of mine. However, the talent with which Bierce formats his tales & the spectacular movement of the bow as it weaves the reader into the sentences, makes this story one worth reading.
Indeed, Bierce’s talent renders all sorrowful truths, sour & sweet, like a childhood candy, one that the reader will knowingly remember with fondness. The subject matter, one rebounded on throughout the ages—although the red flower dost remind us never to forget—heaves the burden of humanity’s follies through the brutally sanguine vernacular back into the heart that remains beating.
Readers will find within the diligence of memory & first-hand experience, the brutalist’s art foreboding a promise of languid misery, & yet, this too ends with a firepit for warmth & harmony in song.
Perhaps Bierce’s narrator recognizes the world around him as one that he once knew, though its changes flummox him with curiosity & unease. Perhaps the narrator would find in our modern world the very markers of departure from valour that one believes to be true when marching toe-to-toe into the home of those who are different, seeking to make it something shiny & new.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
Yet Bierce does not write for the modern reader. With language that far supersedes modern abilities, the reader of today, one who can hardly fulfill a page’s worth of letters, might lack the gumption required to absorb the material at hand. I found myself curiously in the middle ground, looking over my shoulder at a group I loath to join myself while simultaneously pondering the detail of battlegrounds & slit throats that left me apathetic.
In essence, this is a story about the arrival of Union Soldiers to Shiloh. Bierce recounts the battles that the Union & Confederate Soldiers fought, & their gruelling desire to no longer engage in bloodshed as they witnessed the ease with which death claims all. The characters in this story appear as shadows, their presence seems to indicate that the victor in the American Civil War was the invisible demise that led all to perish, if not physically, psychologically, returning to society burdened by the brutality they inflicted on their neighbours.
Early on, I found myself struggling to stay focused. The world of today resembles the darkened valour that Bierce describes in the soldier’s quest. One is left with an important question to answer: Who decides whether it is honourable to engage in war?
Upon exploring the riverways, the wielding knives, the lacerated soft skin, the bruised eye sockets, & blazed grass, a reader may feel the need to seek clarity in material that is not so linguistically brutal in its presentation.
Bierce’s story is long. At times, I wandered along with the character as he rambled about a woman who held weapons in the event she should need to use them & wondered about the world where the narrator wandered in memories. On occasion, my mind drifted back to the surrealism presented alongside these flashes of cruelty. It is difficult to hold stable footing when bombs leave one senselessly numb to the world around them. I persevered in my reading.
I should not wish my rambling to appear trite. I highlight my experience with the material to draw attention to the story’s flow. The introduction felt like a soothing float down the river, while the narrator’s description of wandering through blood-soaked fields, past decaying bodies, & men desperate for freedom, pushed me to the back of the ranks. I remain curious as to why.
Certainly, the body of the text is where the weight of its impact lies. The narrator takes special care to reflect on the consequences of hope that might be found in the assumed honour one holds when going to fight for one’s prerogative, values, & truths.
In reality, what each soldier found was devilish proximity to their demise. This reminded me of the final chapters in Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” (1873). In an attempt to spare the reader from having the book spoiled, I will keep this brief.
Tolstoy presents his readers with the conundrum of war & the sentiment of nationalism that accompanies citizens when setting out to battle. This section, as with Bierce’s story, may be interpreted in different ways depending on the reader. The questions remain the same, regardless of the political landscape. However, their truths may impact readers to varying degrees as the States shift their allegiances. Therefore, one should ponder the philosophical question of the ages: What is the benefit of War?
This review will not seek to respond to that question. What Tolstoy & Bierce allow their readers to ponder is the sentiment intertwined with war. A State decides to engage or refrain from conflict & thus, its citizens are either named as sacrifices or allowed to live unbothered.
What is a person meant to feel with regard to this reality? While Bierce’s narrator wanders along the unmarked graves, translating what he sees, hears, & feels, the reader is meant to be patient. Between the two, the simplicity of the tale overwhelms the senses.
History, as a thing of the past, lurking to meddle in the present, reveals itself unceremoniously. The narrator could be any man who has ever been called to defend his country, any man who has followed instructions to defeat the enemy—the strange man. What is uniquely devastating is the circumstances. Neither man held by death nor propped by life’s breath are total strangers to one another. Bierce’s sentimentality with regard to the flamboyant intimacy of humanity is felt powerfully in what he writes.
The narrator’s experiences remain relevant for all readers, though not all will wander the caverns of open landscape, forests, fires, & rivers, beside him as he stagnates over the grooves where his countrymen fell to their deaths. I’m not sure whether I can fault any reader for not wishing to walk through a land where no man should wander.
As I found the cruel pacing of the story a dull reminder of the troubles that befall those around me, those strangers I cannot know, the story gripped my pondering mind, striking me with the pendulum as it pivots.
Ultimately, though this review has not said much of anything at all, I encourage readers to make their way to the literary talents that Bierce has left us with. This was not a story that was a favourite of mine. However, the talent with which Bierce formats his tales & the spectacular movement of the bow as it weaves the reader into the sentences, makes this story one worth reading.
Indeed, Bierce’s talent renders all sorrowful truths, sour & sweet, like a childhood candy, one that the reader will knowingly remember with fondness. The subject matter, one rebounded on throughout the ages—although the red flower dost remind us never to forget—heaves the burden of humanity’s follies through the brutally sanguine vernacular back into the heart that remains beating.
Readers will find within the diligence of memory & first-hand experience, the brutalist’s art foreboding a promise of languid misery, & yet, this too ends with a firepit for warmth & harmony in song.
Perhaps Bierce’s narrator recognizes the world around him as one that he once knew, though its changes flummox him with curiosity & unease. Perhaps the narrator would find in our modern world the very markers of departure from valour that one believes to be true when marching toe-to-toe into the home of those who are different, seeking to make it something shiny & new.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this •LINK•
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2024
Meh.
Not worth reviewing it.
For the moment at least.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1888] [15p] [Historical] [0.5] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★★☆ The Damned Thing.
★★★★☆ An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. [3.5]
★★★☆☆ Un Habitante de Carcosa y otros Relatos de Terror.
★★★☆☆ Civil War Stories. <-- [2.5]
-----------------------------------------------
Meh.
No vale la pena reseñarlo.
Al menos por ahora.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1888] [15p] [Histórico] [0.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
Not worth reviewing it.
For the moment at least.
It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1888] [15p] [Historical] [0.5] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
★★★★☆ The Damned Thing.
★★★★☆ An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. [3.5]
★★★☆☆ Un Habitante de Carcosa y otros Relatos de Terror.
★★★☆☆ Civil War Stories. <-- [2.5]
-----------------------------------------------
Meh.
No vale la pena reseñarlo.
Al menos por ahora.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1888] [15p] [Histórico] [0.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
October 13, 2022
What I Saw of Shiloh (I-XII) 5⭐
Four Days in Dixie 5⭐
The Crime at Pickett's Mill 5⭐
A Little of Chickamauga 4.5⭐
On Black Soldiering 3.25⭐
A Bivouac of the Dead 5⭐
Four Days in Dixie 5⭐
The Crime at Pickett's Mill 5⭐
A Little of Chickamauga 4.5⭐
On Black Soldiering 3.25⭐
A Bivouac of the Dead 5⭐
December 23, 2017
Another first person military work from my collection. Very short book, and fast read. Bierce was part of the Ohio Army under Buell’s command. Which means it picks up in day 2 of Shiloh, as the Union forces retake the field.
His description of what they marched over to take the field. The gore, horses, men, wounded, etc is astounding and would make any reader anti-war in moments.
Unbelievably clear, and well written - much recommended for history buffs and Civil War buffs.
His description of what they marched over to take the field. The gore, horses, men, wounded, etc is astounding and would make any reader anti-war in moments.
Unbelievably clear, and well written - much recommended for history buffs and Civil War buffs.
April 11, 2023
This is a moving description of a famous Civil War battlefield.
..........
On Sunday April 6, 1862, early morning, an advanced brigade of General Grant's army were camped, after a long march, on the same side of the Tennessee River, at Pittsburg Landing, near Corinth, as the Confederate forces.
After a while, the brigade’s attention is drawn to the sounds of war from General Johnson’s Confederate forces, which, having moved out of Corinth two days before, go on to destroy General Grant’s advanced brigade.
The brigade had, until that moment, been camping peacefully and “having a day of rest”. This is the opening description of the story.
General Grant had been at Savannah and “hastened to the Landing in time to find his camps in the hands of the enemy and the remnants of his beaten army cooped up with an impassable river at their backs for moral support.”
General Buell had been moving from Nashville with thirty thousand men to the east side of the river. His leading division still had a long way to come from Savannah eight miles away.
Eventually, Buell’s leading division sets about crossing the river (there are two steamers) to regroup in an open space on the other side.
The narrator is a member of these reinforcements commanding one of the company’s platoons.
The enemy has retreated to Corinth but a battle ensues: “the enemy is in force just beyond this field, sir.”
…and, going back to the scene at the beginning of the story:
..."… here among the tents from which Grant’s people had been expelled the day before, our … disordered regiments inextricably intermingled …”
Then, while evenly matched, but becoming fatigued, there is finally the appearance of a “long regiment” ..followed by three others. Expecting destructive volleys, the unexpected peacefulness tells of victory.
..........
On Sunday April 6, 1862, early morning, an advanced brigade of General Grant's army were camped, after a long march, on the same side of the Tennessee River, at Pittsburg Landing, near Corinth, as the Confederate forces.
After a while, the brigade’s attention is drawn to the sounds of war from General Johnson’s Confederate forces, which, having moved out of Corinth two days before, go on to destroy General Grant’s advanced brigade.
The brigade had, until that moment, been camping peacefully and “having a day of rest”. This is the opening description of the story.
General Grant had been at Savannah and “hastened to the Landing in time to find his camps in the hands of the enemy and the remnants of his beaten army cooped up with an impassable river at their backs for moral support.”
General Buell had been moving from Nashville with thirty thousand men to the east side of the river. His leading division still had a long way to come from Savannah eight miles away.
Eventually, Buell’s leading division sets about crossing the river (there are two steamers) to regroup in an open space on the other side.
The narrator is a member of these reinforcements commanding one of the company’s platoons.
The enemy has retreated to Corinth but a battle ensues: “the enemy is in force just beyond this field, sir.”
…and, going back to the scene at the beginning of the story:
..."… here among the tents from which Grant’s people had been expelled the day before, our … disordered regiments inextricably intermingled …”
Then, while evenly matched, but becoming fatigued, there is finally the appearance of a “long regiment” ..followed by three others. Expecting destructive volleys, the unexpected peacefulness tells of victory.
April 2, 2018
Quick detailed read
A short story that paints a picture of the carnage that was Shiloh. Written in the style of the time, makes this a interesting read. Worth your time.
A short story that paints a picture of the carnage that was Shiloh. Written in the style of the time, makes this a interesting read. Worth your time.
January 16, 2024
A classic. Bierce's incisive wit brings the savagery of the battle to life.
May 18, 2024
Recently discovered Ambrose, this is dark, descriptive and very elegant writing. I quite enjoyed this short story!
March 30, 2017
Ambrose Bierce era sargento quando as tropas da União, comandadas por Ulysses Grant, foram surpreendidas pelos Confederados em Shiloh, na margem errada do rio Tennessee. Bierce não descreve a batalha; descreve apenas o que viu! E o que viu (e ouviu) é, por vezes, aterrorizador, agoniante e emocionante, mas também excitante e até mesmo deslumbrante. E ele fá-lo com uma escrita que é económica, direta e honestamente crua. Como alguém disse, talvez este seja o maior libelo contra a guerra da literatura norte-americana!
March 20, 2015
A superb and harrowing memoir. It's in the public domain and easily discoverable with a casual web search.
May 17, 2025
civil war “all quiet on the western front”
A vivid description of bravery, mayhem and the horrors of a civil war bloodbath. A short piece that is well worth reading.
A vivid description of bravery, mayhem and the horrors of a civil war bloodbath. A short piece that is well worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews