Company Aytch

COMPANY AYTCH

Sam Watkins memoirs written in Company Aytch, tells of a remarkable time in United States history, from the perspective of an ordinary soldier. Usually when a person writes their memoirs during this time period it is from the perspective of Captains or Generals, not from that of an ordinary foot soldier. Sam Watkins wrote about his time in the Confederate army throughout a four year period, reliving his experiences and feelings and thoughts. It is remarkable to learn of such experiences from an ordinary person's point of view, it adds to the everyday knowledge that we, as United States citizens, know about the Civil War.

Sam Watkins, in my opinion, does a fairly impeccable job with this book simply because he wrote it all from memory, after he got out of the Confederate Army. Now he blatantly admits this, as he stated, "I do not pretend to write the history of the war. I only give a few sketches and incidents that came under the observation of a "high private" in the rear ranks of the Rebel army. I propose to tell of the fellows who did the shooting and killing, the fortifying and ditching, the sweeping of the streets, the drilling, the standing guard, picket and videt, and who drew (or were to draw) eleven dollars per month and rations, and also drew the ramrod and tore the cartridge." (Watkins 5). Sam Watkins tells the history of the Civil War through a regular mans perspective. Not of the higher ranked officials that we are used to learning from. These boys were on the front line, losing their lives and losing their friends. In Company Aytch, we are told of battles and guard duty, but more importantly, Sam Watkins shares the feelings of a soldier during time of war, not just what was accomplished.

The reliability of Watkins' memories of the Civil War is fairly good. Granted, yes, because these memoirs are written later on in life the accuracy of the events told in this book may not be one hundred percent, however, in my opinion, I feel that his memories are remembered well enough to be considered true.

While Watkins was in Corinth he remembered that a law that was passed by the Confederate States Congress called the conscript act. "A soldier had no right to volunteer and to choose the branch of service he preferred. He was conscripted. Also, that another law was passed by the Confederate States Congress around the same time as the conscription act, allowing every person who owned twenty Negroes to go home." (Watkins 31). These laws are held to be true and were, in fact, enacted by the Confederate States during the first part of the Civil War. With the enacting of these laws, as Watkins states, made the average man believe that the Civil War was a "rich man's war, poor man's fight." (Watkins 31). It is a historical fact that the Civil War was about slavery, and for the most part, only rich men owned slave, especially twenty slaves.

Throughout the book Watkins' remembers quite a bit of events very distinctly. Such as the Battle of Cat Creek, "our regiment is the only regiment in action. They are crowding us; our poor little handful of men are being killed and wounded by the score. Our muskets roll and rattle, making music like the kettle and bass drum combined. They are checked; we see them fall back to the woods, and night throws her mantle over the scene." (Watkins 98). Watkins is very descriptive when a battle is spoken about; he remembers everything about it, from who