(ăm'brōz gwĭnĕt' bĭrs), 1842–1914?, American satirist, journalist, and short-story writer, b. Meigs co., Ohio. He fought with extreme bravery in the Civil War, and the conflict, which he considered meaningless slaughter, is reflected in his war stories and to a great extent in the deep pessimism of his late fiction. After the war, he turned to journalism. In San Francisco he wrote for the News-Letter , becoming its editor in 1868. He soon established a reputation as a satirical wit, and his waspish squibs and epigrams were much quoted. In London (1872–75), he wrote for the magazine Fun and finished three books, including Cobwebs from an Empty Skull (1874). After his return to San Francisco, he wrote for the Argonaut , edited the Wasp (1881–86), and was a columnist for Hearst's Sunday Examiner (1887–96); his writings in the Examiner made him the literary arbiter of the West Coast. Later he was Washington correspondent for the American and a contributor to Cosmopolitan. Bierce's famous…