EXPLANATORY NOTES
1. In the Midst of Life: From the Book of
Common Prayer—The Burial Service: “In the midst of life, we are in
death.”
Soldiers
A HORSEMAN IN THE SKY
2. salient: A protrusion, in this case a rock
jutting out beyond the surface.
AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE
3. northern Alabama: Owl Creek is in Tennessee,
not Alabama, not far from where the Battle of Shiloh was
fought.
4. sleepers: Railroad ties.
5. diminuendo: Italian; in music a gradual
descrease in volume or intensity.
6. æolian harps: Open boxes with stretched
strings that play when the wind moves them.
CHICKAMAUGA
7. naked savages: American Indians.
8. civilized race to the far South: Mexicans; the
Mexican-American War was conducted from 1846 to 1848; the capital,
Mexico City, fell in 1847.
9. “curb the lust for war. . . the loftiest
star”: From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Canto 3, by Lord
Byron (1788-1824).
10. gouted: Clotted.
11. freaked and maculated: Speckled and
blotched.
12. “spoor”: The trail of a wild animal.
13. “the thunder of the captains and the
shouting”: From Job 39:25.
14. pillar of fire: In their flight from Egypt,
God led the Israelites by a pillar of clouds in the day and a
pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21).
ONE OF THE MISSING
15. vis-à-vis: French; face to face.
16. “Springfield”: a breech-loading, bolt-action
army rifle, first made at the U.S. Armory in Springfield,
Massachusetts.
17. Carpathian Mountains: A mountain system in
eastern Europe, forming a continuation of the Alps.
18. dun: Grayish-brown.
KILLED AT RESACA
19. Rincon Hill: In the 1860s, a fashionable
district of San Francisco. By the 1880s it had been partially
leveled and had become a working-class district. It is located at
what is now the base of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
THE AFFAIR AT COULTER’S NOTCH
20. trick of the cuttlefish: The cuttlefish emits
a dark, inky liquid; here the guns likewise emitted clouds of dark
smoke.
THE COUP DE GRÂCE
21. Coup de Grâce: French; “stroke of
mercy.”
22. chine: Backbone or spine.
23. unheroic Prometheus: Prometheus is the Greek
god who, because he gave fire to mortals, was condemned to have his
liver chewed upon eternally by vultures. The comparison here is to
the exposed entrails of Sergeant Halcrow; he is “unheroic” because
his suffering serves no purpose, not because he was cowardly.
PARKER ADDERSON, PHILOSOPHER
24. haft: The handle of a bladed weapon; with a
bayonet it is designed to fit on the barrel of a rifle, though here
it is used as a candleholder.
AN AFFAIR OF OUTPOSTS
25. His Excellency the Fool: Apparently an
invented title.
26. impedimenta: Objects (in this case the
persons accompanying the Governor) that impede or obstruct
progress.
27. new levies from the line: A levy is one
drafted into service; the irony here is that these men are being
“drafted” into retreat due to injury.
28. pash: A smashing blow.
THE STORY OF A CONSCIENCE
29. defile in the Cumberland Mountains: A defile
is a narrow gorge or valley; the Cumberland Mountains are the
western section of the Appa lachians and extend along the
Virginia-Kentucky border into central Tennessee.
Civilians
THE MAN OUT OF THE NOSE
30. North Beach: On the coast in the northern
part of the city; at one time a Bohemian district populated by
would-be artists and writers, though here simply a district for the
poor. Bierce dramatizes John Hardshaw’s financial and social
descent by his successive moves to ever cheaper and less
prestigious parts of the city.
31. Rincon Hill: In the 1860s, a fashionable
district of San Francisco. By the 1880s it had been partially
leveled and had become a working-class district. It is located at
what is now the base of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
32. that other law which God thundered from
Sinai: A nice specimen of Bierce’s wry humor; here he conjoins
God’s commandment against adultery with the law of
gravitation.
33. Mission Dolores: In 1776, Father Francisco
Palou had a brushwood shelter built in what is now San Francisco
and offered the first mass. The present Mission Dolores was
dedicated in 1791.
34. Goat Hill: Apparently Bierce’s reference is
to Billy Goat Hill, in the center of the city in the Noe Valley
district.
THE MAN AND THE SNAKE
35. Morryster’s Marvells of Science:
Apparently an invented author and title. Bierce quotes the same
author in The Devil’s Dictionary in the entry for
Tree. Most of his authorities there are invented and so, it
seems, is his citation here.
36. Zola: Émile Zola (1840 -1902), French
naturalistic novelist, whose fiction was associated in some minds
with the vulgar and unseemly side of life, which is the basis of
comparison here.
37. de trop: French; too much,
superfluous.
38. æolian harp: an open box with stretched
strings that play when the wind moves them.
39. Memnon’s statue: At Thebes, a huge statue of
the Egyptian Pharoah Amenhotep III.
40. ophiophagus: Greek; serpent eating. A
very venomous snake of the East Indies related to the cobra and
that feeds on other snakes.
Can Such Things Be?
41. Can Such Things Be?: From
Macbeth 3. iv. After the appearance of Banquo’s ghost,
Macbeth exclaims to Lady Macbeth:
Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine is blanch’d with fear.
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine is blanch’d with fear.
MOXON’S MASTER
42. “Herbert Spencer’s definition of ‘Life’ ”:
Herbert Spencer (1820 -1903) was a British materialist philosopher
who adapted Darwinian principles to form a comprehensive
philosophic system. His definition of life is found in Part One of
First Principles (1867), though the language there differs a
bit from Bierce’s quotation.
43. Mill: John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), British
philosopher, whose System of Logic (1843) stated principles
of induction and explored notions of causation.
44. Saul of Tarsus: St. Paul before his
conversion. Saul’s religious conversion occurred on the road to
Damascus. A great light shone round him and the Lord said: “Saul,
why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:1-4).
45. Lewes: George Henry Lewes (1817-1878),
English positivistic philosopher and editor of the liberal journal
Fortnightly Review. The quotation, which Bierce quotes
elsewhere as well, has not been located.
46. pawl: A device on a hinge designed to prevent
the movement of a ratchet gear.
A RESUMED IDENTITY
47. “acoustic shadows”: This phenomenon was
recorded during the Civil War and is now most familiar in
ultrasound diagnosis.
48. allocution: Formal address, normally to
instruct or advise.
49. the loquacious barber of the Arabian Nights:
The barber in the tale “Abu Kir the Dyer and Abu Sur the Barber”
from Tales of the Arabian Nights.
50. Nineveh: Ancient capital of Assyria whose
ruins are on the Tigris River.
51. Tyre: Ancient capital of Phoenicia.
THE NIGHT-DOINGS AT “DEADMAN’S”
52. flumen: Latin; to flow. A flume is a
channel or gorge.
53. the Adversary: Satan.
THE REALM OF THE UNREAL
54. prestidigitateurs: French; jugglers,
noted for manual dexterity; sleight-of-hand men.
55. love “veils her sacred fires, /
And, unaware, Morality expires”: / Bierce has altered the
subject of the passage from Pope’s The Dunciad Book ii for
his own purposes. Pope wrote:
Religion blushing, veils her sacred
fires,
And unawares Morality expires.
Nor public flame nor private dares to shine;
Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine!
And unawares Morality expires.
Nor public flame nor private dares to shine;
Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine!
56. thaumaturgists: Workers of miracles.
THE DAMNED THING
57. chaparral: Spanish; a dense thicket of
shrubs and small trees generally found in the southwest United
States.
58. maculations: Spotted or blotched from the
contusions.
59. extravasated blood: Blood forced into
surrounding tissues.
60. “ ‘actinic’ rays”: Photochemically active
radiation, as those produced by the sun.
Soldier Folk
THREE AND ONE ARE ONE
61. sons and daughters of Ham: Slaves; Noah
cursed the descendants of his son Ham; they were to be the “servant
of servants” (Genesis 9:25).
Negligible Tales
A BOTTOMLESS GRAVE
62. ballot-box with a sliding bottom: That is,
the election could be fixed by secretly removing or adding
ballots.
63. embracery: Influencing the court through
bribery or other corrupt methods.
64. gibbets: Gallows.
JUPITER DOKE, BRIGADIER-GENERAL
65. escutcheon: Originally, an emblem bearing a
coat of arms; here one’s political reputation.
66. bushwackers: Confederate guerrillas.
67. proxy: A person authorized to act for
another.
68. Henry Clay: American statesman (1777-1852)
from Kentucky and proponent of the Missouri Compromise and other
efforts to avoid dissolution of the Union and ensuing war;
nicknamed the “Great Pacificator.” In view of the fact that the
nation is embroiled in civil war, Clay was hardly the “far-seeing
statesman” Doke takes him to be.
69. bolters: Those who have given up their
membership in a political party.
70. countertempus: Latin; an embarrassing
mishap.
71. the 22d ult.: Ultimate; that is, the last or
most recent letter, being the one dated January 22.
72. the 2d inst.: Instant; here, the letter now
under consideration.
THE CITY OF THE GONE AWAY
73. immortelles: French; immortal; dried flowers
that retain their color.
74. crêpe: French; a soft, thin fabric;
here ironically referring to the black band of crepe worn on the
hat or sleeve as a symbol of mourning.
75. full canonicals: Prescribed dress for
officiating clergy.
76. necropolis: A large cemetery typically
associated with an ancient city.
77. sacerdotal: Pertaining to the
priesthood.
78. to take the kink out of a rope: That is, to
be hanged.
79. cadavres: French; cadavers, dead
bodies usually intended for dissection.
80. soaprano: A pun (and not a very good one) on
soap and soprano.
THE MAJOR’S TALE
81. Last of the Hittites: The Hittites were an
acient people living in Asia Minor about 2000-1200 BCE.
82. Madagascarene Methuselah: Methuselah lived
969 years according to Genesis 5:27. The connection of Methuselah
to Madagascar is unclear, though Bierce did refer to a
Madagascarene philosopher in his fable “A Treaty of Peace.”
83. “copperhead”: A term used by Northern
Republicans to label Northern Democrats. They called themselves
Peace Democrats, but their opponents called them copperheads
because many of them wore copper pennies as a party badge.
84. Sanitary Commission’s: The United States
Sanitary Commission was organized in 1861 by civilians who wished
to assist the Union army by providing humanitarian aid for wounded
soldiers.
85. Turveydrop: A character in Charles Dickens’s
Bleak House amusingly devoted to correct conduct.
CURRIED COW
86. Timotheus, who “raised a mortal to the
skies”: “He raised a mortal to the skies; / She drew an angel
down,” from “Alexander’s Feast” by John Dryden (1631-1700).
87. dot: French; dowry.
A REVOLT OF THE GODS
88. Sardasa: Perhaps meant to be reminiscent of
Sardis, an ancient city in Asia Minor.
The Parenticide Club
MY FAVORITE MURDER
89. sobriquet: French; a nickname.
90. tendo Achilles: Latin; Achilles
tendon, the large tendon running from the heel bone to the calf
muscle.
91. crescendo: Italian; in music a gradual
increase in volume or intensity.
92. diminuendo: Italian; in music a
gradual decrease in volume or intensity.
93. coup de grâce: French; “stroke of
mercy.”
OIL OF DOG
94. “walloping”: Boiling noisily.
95. Antepenultimata: Those things that are
second from the last.
The Controversialist
A BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD
96. campo santo: Spanish; a sacred
field.