THE STORY AND THE BATTLE

Ambrose Bierce, Killed at Resaca, and the Civil War

Killed at Resaca first appeared in 1887 and was later collected in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians in 1891. Its title points to the Battle of Resaca, fought in northwest Georgia from 13 through 15 May 1864 during Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.

Bierce was a Union veteran as well as a journalist and writer. His Civil War stories are often brief, sharply observed, ironic, and unsettling. They reward close reading, and this website does not summarize their endings.

Killed at Resaca centers on Lieutenant Herman Brayle and on the soldiers and civilians around him. Readers can encounter Bierce’s story for themselves before comparing it with Jacob L. T. Bates’s screen adaptation. The story engages questions of courage, reputation, duty, pride, judgment, and the expectations people place upon one another.