Ambrose Bierce fought in two major battles: the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Stones River. Bierce was a soldier in the Union Army, which he joined at the age of 42. He served as a captain and then later as a major during the Civil War. He was wounded during both battles, but his injuries were not life-threatening. Shiloh was fought on April 6-7, 1862. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War and is often considered one of its turning points because it showed how much manpower would be required to win such a war. The battle began when Confederate forces led by General Albert Sidney Johnston attacked Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant at Pittsburg Landing (modern-day Shiloh). Johnston hoped to defeat Grant before reinforcements could arrive from other parts of the country—but Grant’s army had more than twice as many soldiers as Johnston’s force did. The Battle of Stones River started on December 31, 1862, when Union forces led by William Rosecrans launched an attack against Braxton Bragg’s Confederate army at Murfreesboro, Tennessee (modern-day Murfreesboro)