Synopses & Reviews
Among the plethora of books about the Civil War Company Aytch stands out for its uniquely personal view of the events as related by a most engaging writer--a man with Twain-like talents who served as a foot soldier for four long years in the Confederate army. Originally published in 1881 as a series of articles in the Columbia, Tennessee, Herald, Sam Watkins's account has long been recognized by historians as one of the most lively and witty accounts of the war. Parallels between this text and The Red Badge of Courage suggest that Stephen Crane was also among Private Watkins's readers. This edition of Company Aytch also contains six previously uncollected articles by Sam Watkins, plus other valuable supplementary materials, including a map and period illustrations, a glossary of technical and military terms, a chronology of events, a concise history of Watkins's regiment, a biographical directory of individuals mentioned in the narrative, and geographic and topical indexes. This new edition of a Civil War classic is bound to become the edition of choice for students, military buffs, and general readers alike.
Synopsis
"Samuel Rush Watkins was a private in the Confederate Army, a twenty-one-year-old Southerner from Tennessee who knew about war but had never experienced it firsthand."--BOOK JACKET. "With the immediacy of a dispatch from the front lines, here are Watkins' firsthand observations and recollections, from combat on the battlefields of Shiloh ("On Sunday morning, the order was given for the whole army to advance, and to attack immediately. The fire opened - a ripping, roaring boom, bang!") and Chickamauga ("We debouched through the woods, firing as we marched. The Yankee line was about two hundred yards off. In ten minutes we were face to face with the foe") to encounters with Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, from the tedium of grueling marches to the terror of fellow soldiers' deaths, from breaking bread with a Georgia family to confronting the enemy eye to eye."--BOOK JACKET.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Textual Note
Acknowledgments
"CO. AYTCH"
Other Sketches:
The "Fighting" Forty-eighth Tennessee Regiment
Reminiscences of Hood's Tennessee Campaign
Snow Battle at Dalton–Little Jimmie White
Battle Near Adairsville
A Gambler at Cards in Dalton
Dead Angle, on the Kennesaw Line
Chronology
A Concise History of the First Tennessee Infantry Regiment
Glossary
Topical Index
Geographic Index
Biographical Directory and Index