Ambrose Bierce was born in Ohio in 1842. He lived in the Midwest during his childhood, but he attended the Kentucky Military Institute in 1859. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in the Union army. He fought bravely in the battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga and participated in Sherman's March to the Sea. After the war ended, Bierce traveled with a military expedition to San Francisco, where, in 1867, he left the army.

Bierce's poetry and prose began appearing in the Californian magazine around that time. In 1868, he began to work as the editor of the News Letter for which he wrote his famous "Town Crier" column. He quickly became an important figure in California literary society, establishing friendships with Mark Twain and Bret Harte. In 1872, however, Bierce left the United States for a three-year stay in England where he wrote for several magazines. In England, he...