The story takes place during the battle of Chickamagua during the
Civil War.  A small child, both deaf and dumb encounters people
rustling through the tall grass where he is playing near his home.  He
feels something rustling past him in the tall grass. Thinking someone
is playing, he jumps on one man's back. The boy reaches forward to
find the soldier has no jaw. The soldier throws the boy off. Just
then, the boy smells something burning. He runs back toward the smell.
His house is burning down and his mother has been killed. Anyone who
could tell me the author of this piece. I do not know if it is fiction
or non fiction and do not know the author either. I ran across the
story a few years back in American Literature. All I remember is that
is was a horrible story; one of many that came from the Civil War.

Hello.

You're thinking of a short story called "Chickamauga" by Ambrose Bierce. 

'For instance, in "Chickamauga," Bierce describes a disillusioned
child mounting a wounded soldier who "lacked a lower jaw" and "from
the upper teeth to the throat was a great red gap fringed with hanging
shreds of flesh and splinters of bone" (Collected Writings of Ambrose
Bierce, 21)....
For instance, Bierce's "Chickamauga" is a portrayal of a young, deaf
child, who in the midst of a battle, believes it to be a game.  With a
wooden sword, he leads the wounded soldiers (his soldiers) toward a
red glow of fire.  It is not until he reaches the fire that he
discovers the reality of the situation. He discovers his own village
being burned and finds his mother slain (Collected Writings of Ambrose
Bierce, 21-23).'
source: University of North Carolina at Pembroke, "Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914?"
http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/18661913/lit/bierce.htm

The text of the story is available free online at classicreader.com
http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.6/bookid.1167/

The story was also made into a short film in 1962. See Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369328/

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search strategy:
"deaf child" chickamauga
"ambrose bierce" Chickamauga deaf

I hope this helps.

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Request for Answer Clarification by babebmr-ga on 13 Apr 2004 21:59 PDT

Is Chickamauga Fiction or non-fiction?

Thanks

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 13 Apr 2004 22:10 PDT

Thank you for the tip.

The boy is fictional, although the context of the battle is historical.

"Bierce contributes to the realism movement by portraying a realistic
setting; the Battle of Chickamauga and the creek that the boy
encounters are actual parts of history.
 The realistic element of the story intensifies the seriousness of the
subject.  Although the main character is fictional, the events taking
place around him actually occurred in history."
See: Chickamauga Study Guide, hosted by Northern Illinois University
http://www.engl.niu.edu/dderosa/AmericanSurvey/1865/Bierce/chick_study_guide.html