# Captain Hartroy — In the Midst of Life character guide

> Captain Hartroy in In the Midst of Life by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** II Captain Hartroy

**First appearance:** 0019-an-affair-of-outposts

## Snapshot

A line officer promoted from the ranks to an independent mountain command, he halts a whistling stranger at his picket post and then runs after him with a revolver.

## Who they are

Hartroy holds a field officer's command in a Cumberland defile, a promotion that still sits uneasily on a man discovered rather than born to rank. When a butternut-clad civilian passes his sentinel with a paper and a faintly ironic 'Gineral,' something in the encounter snaps the captain from stolid duty into pursuit. His conscience, not his orders, drives the chase that follows.

## In the story

### [The Story of a Conscience](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se/chapters/the-story-of-a-conscience)

Union officer grappling with his conscience after capturing a former friend who is a Confederate spy.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se/chapters/i)

Commander of the picket-guard, observed giving instructions to the sentinel and later pursuing the civilian.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se/chapters/ii)

Commands an independent force defending a defile in the Cumberland Mountains; issues passes to loyal civilians and orders summary execution for abuse of the privilege.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se/chapters/iii)

Confronts and captures Dramer Brune, identifying the forged pass and accepting his surrender.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se/chapters/iv)

Commands the Union battalion; recognizes Brune as the man who spared his life years earlier; struggles with guilt but orders Brune's execution; commits suicide after the execution.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se/characters/captain_hartroy
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/in_the_midst_of_life_se/characters