army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. That opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all in wartime. 

A Federal scout, posing as a Confederate soldier, informs Farquhar of the Union's position at Owl Creek Bridge. Farquhar is tempted to find some way to sabotage the bridge, and the scout feeds that temptation by telling Farquhar how the bridge might be destroyed.  

The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tinder." 

Once the flashback ends, the reader immediately returns to Farquhar falling from his position on the bridge. 

One key literary device used in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is imagery. Ambrose Bierce describes the place of the hanging in vivid detail. He shows how the rope restrains Peyton Farquhar’s body. He notes how the boards on the railway bridge are “loose.” He delves into thde people who are at the hanging—the sentinels and army officers. Bierce also uses imagery to portray Farquhar’s fantasized escape. He depicts the motion of the water and the actions of the soldiers. In both cases, imagery produces a limpid look into Farquhar’s dire situation.

Another literary device is flashback. After presenting Farquhar’s current circumstances, Bierce goes back in time to tell how he arrived at his death sentence. This literary device relates to another literary device: foreshadowing. The flashback lets Bierce touch on Farquhar’s home, which plays a key role near the end of the story.

Two additional literary devices are simile and symbolism. In the water, Farquhar is “spinning like a top.” This counts as a simile because Bierce employs a comparison term—like—to show how Farquhar, a man, is behaving as a precarious, enfeebled cap or lid might. Finally, Farquhar arrives at his home. Farquhar’s return home could be seen as a symbol. His home might represent his last resting place or the glorious peace that’s sometimes attributed to death. As Farquhar says about his house, “Ah, how beautiful she is!”

In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Ambrose Bierce uses exposition to give the reader crucial background information on the main character, Peyton Farquhar, and his motivations for attempting to burn the bridge. This exposition is key to our understanding of why he would do what he did and why he's being hanged for it.

The entirety of Part II provides this vital exposition. We learn that Farquhar was a plantation owner, a slave owner, and a secessionist (one who wanted the South to permanently separate from the Union around the time of the American Civil War). Although he did not join the army, he was a "civilian who was at heart a soldier," and he was willing to perform any task in order to help the South retain its way of life. He learns from a man he does not realize is a Federal scout that

"The [Union] commandant has issued an order [...], declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged."

Such an order communicates just how important the railroads are to the Northern war effort, and so Farquhar -- with his belief that "all is fair in [...] war" -- determines to aid the South by disrupting the railroad lines on which the North relies. Without our having this knowledge, he's just a man being hanged who happens to hallucinate in the moments before his death. Bierce's exposition adds content and depth to both character and theme and is therefore crucial to our understanding of both.