AMERICAN CIVIL WAR - NONFICTION
"Company Aytch" 
By Sam Watkins
A classic memoir by one of the men that did the real fighting. This is the experiences of Private Sam Watkins, Army of Tennessee, 1861-1865. Sam Watkins fought in every major engagement that the Army of Tennessee was at. Some of the fighting he was in was some of the worst of the war (Franklin TN., Chickamauga, GA.) and he was right up front in the thick of things. Watkins relates much about the life and troubles of the line soldier serving under Braxton Bragg (hated), Joe E. Johnston (loved), and John B. Hood (not liked much either). Cold, hunger, harsh punishment (executions, Bragg liked to keep 1/10th of his men behind to shoot runners) were the order of the day. There are many funny tales, close escapes, raids for food, and talking to Yanks during lulls.
Watkins paints a grim picture of the
aftermath of battles and talks of friends and comrades killed along the way. He
was one of 7 survivors of the 120 that started out as Company H, 1st Tennessee
Volunteer Regiment. This book is well worth reading to get an enlisted man's
point of view. Watkins has much to say about the actions of his leaders and is
blunt in his opinions about the performance of some of the better known generals
of the South.
Reviewed by Kenneth S. Smith
8/21/2000
Available from:
A Plume Book
Published by Penguin Putnam, Inc
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
