What did Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane bring to American fiction that was lacking in other Civil War stories of the same time period? 1) a great reliance on Romantic elements such as the idealization of nature and the common man
2) fewer stories about individual people and more stories of groups of soldiers and officers
3) sarcasm and bitterness that was a more accurate reflection of Americans' views on war
4)more artfully written stories that used literary elements to dramatic effect

I think 4. The story's Bierce wrote often focused upon individual soldiers like in "A Horseman in the Sky," not groups. He told individual stories and the same is with Crane. The other answers don't make sense so it is B. "more artfully written stories that used literary elements to dramatic effect." For example, Bierce uses elements like surprise and foreshadowing to create meaning.

Explanation: These two authors have some specific and distinctive way of writing that set them apart from most of their peers at the time, one of these characteristics was how much detail they put into the description not only of the characters but to the environment surrounding them, this gave a very dramatic feeling to their work, two of the best examples of this are "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Red Badge of Courage." Hope this helps