Farquhar is the 35-year-old protagonist of Bierce’s story. Interestingly, he is the only named character in the story while the rest are known by their roles in society, and he at first goes unnamed. Bierce names him in Part 2. In Part 1, the narrator describes him as a “civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His features were good—a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears” (6). He is a civilian and not a soldier from the description, but the reader does not know how he has come to be hanged.

In Part 2, the reader learns that Farquhar is an Alabama plantation and slave owner from a highly respected family who dreams of glory. Scholar David M. Owens notes that “Farquhar is a romantic, idealistic man” (Owens, David M. “Bierce and Biography: The Location of Owl Creek Bridge.” American Literary Realism, 1870-1910, vol. 26, no. 3, 1994, pp. 85). He wants to join the Confederate army and is “ardently devoted to the Southern cause” (9).