"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce - Summary

I

A man is standing on a hanging apparatus with a noose around his neck. He is on a railroad bridge in Alabama. Two privates are preparing the apparatus, overseen by a sergeant, and a captain is standing on the bridge as well. Two sentinels stand at either side of the bridge to prevent people from coming on the bridge. A company of infantry headed by a lieutenant stands on one bank of the river, motionless, as part of the execution ceremony. The condemned man seems to be a kind civilian planter. He seems to be relaxed. However, suddenly he hears a sharp metallic percussion. It arouses fear in him. The tolls become spaced farther and farther apart. It is the ticking of his watch. Suddenly he thinks how he might escape- and the sergeant tilts the platform on which he stands.

II

It is the American Civil War. The condemned, Peyton Farquhar is indeed a plantation owner, and a secessionist. He wants to be a soldier but circumstances prevented him; instead he contributed as much to the Confederate cause as a civilian. A soldier in Confederate attire approaches Farquhar's grounds. He tells Farquhar that the Union army is repairing the railroads, which will help the Union army advance farther South. He says that the Union army issued an order " declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged". Farquhar asks the soldier how he may tamper with the bridge, and the soldier advises arson. The soldier leaves, and the narrator reveals that the soldier is a Union scout.

III

Farquhar falls, losing consciousness. Time stretches and after seemingly decades later he feels the noose upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation. He stops thinking, and only feeling remains. He can feel every fiber of his being in pain, as though on fire. Suddenly all is dark and cold and, his capacity to think returning, he realizes he is in the river. He sinks in the water and then rises, still unable to breathe.

He realizes that he doesn't want to be shot to death, and manages to free his hands from being tied behind his back. He loosens the noose and feels pain again. He swims to the surface and takes a breath of air, which hurts too. He is exceptionally alert now. He notices in great detail the nuance of nature around him and lingers on it.

Suddenly he is being shot at; two shots miss. The lieutenant commands the company to fire. Farquhar dives. Some bullets graze him and one lodges in his neck, and he removes it. He swims downstream as the soldiers reload. A cannonball misses him. Suddenly he is caught in a vortex which throws him ashore. The sand and the trees are beautiful to him and he revels in the smells and sounds of nature. A final grapeshot is fired from the cannon and he runs into the forest.

He travels in the forest all day. At last, "fatigued, footsore, famishing" he finds a road which he knows is in the right direction. There is something eerie about the forest and the road. The stars are unfamiliar, the road is unnaturally straight with no sigh on human habitation and he hears whispers in an unfamiliar language.

He passes into another scene, unsure if he has fallen asleep or is waking from a dream. He is at the gate of his own home. His wife comes toward him, graceful and beautiful and smiling joyfully. As he reaches to clasp her he feels a blow to his neck. "Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge."

Ambrose Bierce. Image source