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Case file s1797 · Literature and art · 1914
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1914
Ambrose Bierce: Abierce
Ambrose Bierce. Unknown author. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
presumed 1914
Place
Mexico, location unconfirmed
Field
writer · Literature and writing on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law; Mexican law · Common law · Civil law
Historical event
Mexican Revolution; Pancho Villa's northern campaign
Religion
Ambrose Bierce: Atheist and agnostic, Other Christian (recorded as Christianity on Wikidata; American agnostics, American atheists on Wikipedia)
Literature and artBurned papers and destroyed workWorld warsLatin AmericaMexico

Ambrose Bierce vanished in Mexico in 1913 or 1914, and a priest put a plaque in a Sierra Mojada cemetery in 2004 for the grave a witness described

Ambrose Bierce, 71, left Washington in October 1913 to tour his old Civil War battlefields and crossed into Mexico by December. His last known letter is dated 26 December 1913 from Chihuahua. Sources differ on the recipient: Wikipedia says Blanche Partington, and Don Swaim's page, drawing on Richard O'Connor, says his secretary Carrie Christiansen, who later destroyed it. U.S. consular officials investigated. Army chief of staff Hugh Scott asked Villa's U.S. representative, Felix Sommerfeld, to look into it. Accounts from Villa's men contradicted each other. Partington concluded he went to the Grand Canyon and killed himself. A Sierra Mojada story, recorded by priest James Lienert, says a firing squad shot an American called "El Ruso" against the cemetery wall. Lienert's source, Jesus Benites Avila (1903 to 2001), pointed to a spot. A 2004 granite plaque there says trustworthy witnesses believe Bierce's remains lie in the cemetery. Researchers found no death or burial record. No remains have been found and no estate dispute is documented.

What the law took from it

A person who disappears abroad leaves heirs a legal death declaration to seek, and no sourced grave.

Sources
  1. donswaim.comPress
  2. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Ambrose Bierce vanished in Mexico in 1913 or 1914, and a priest put a plaque in a Sierra Mojada cemetery in 2004 for the grave a witness described,” story s1797, https://www.celebrity.estate/ambrose-bierce-1914, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Literature and artBurned papers and destroyed workWorld warsLatin AmericaCommon lawCivil lawMexico