The Coup de Grâce (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Ambrose Bierce
- First Published: 1891
- Type of Plot: Horror
- Time of Work: 1862
- Setting: An American Civil War battlefield
- Principal Characters: Captain Downing Madwell, Sergeant Caffal Halcrow, Major Creede Halcrow
- Genres: Short fiction, Horror literature
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Friendship, Pain, Civil War, Death or dying, Euthanasia or right to die, Battles, Wounds or injuries
- Locales: United States
The Story
Major Creede Halcrow is the commanding officer of a Union Army infantry regiment from Massachusetts that is in combat during the Civil War. Captain Downing Madwell commands one of Halcrow's companies. Sergeant Caffal Halcrow, the major's brother, is an enlisted man in Madwell's company. When Madwell was a second lieutenant in the regiment, Caffal was such a close friend that he joined as an enlisted man in order to be with him. Although the two men had each risen in rank, it was hard to maintain their friendship because military protocol created a “deep and wide”...
[The entire page is 1444 words long]
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