Samuel R. Watkins Analysis

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Daniel Everhart History 152 12-8-11 Samuel R. Watkins was a soldier in the Civil War, and is responsible for “Co. Aytch,” one of the greatest memoirs of all time. In it, he gave a very detailed and personal description of what life was like for a common soldier in what was arguably the bloodiest war in American history. As a soldier in Company H of the First Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment, CSA, Watkins witnessed the paranoia of war in grand scale as he marched and fought with the Confederate Army of Tennessee across the Western Theater. His honest, vivid, and dramatic memoir, which was first published back in the 1880s, is a life long classic that depicts the horrors, humor and realism of a very anarchic time for our country. In his words, he was there, and he saw it. His flesh trembled and creeped. “The death angel was there to gather its last harvest. It was the grand coronation of death.” Only someone who could have experienced that kind of a scene could describe it in that way. Watkins was there, on the battlefield, and he bared witness to some of the war’s bloodiest moments.…show more content…
In between all of that, he was wounded, and he killed several people. Also, he lost many of his friends during this time. Some of the memories he describes in the memoir are not for the squeamish. In one of the most grisly accounts in the memoir, he talks about the death of one of his friends while they were dining on breakfast. This, and other accounts of death on the battlefield, are told in a very unique manner not seen in other personal accounts of the Civil War. Even when he relates details of the deaths of his friends, whose bodies were often blown to bits while standing right next him, then had to be left, dead or dying, on the battlefield, he does so in a way that is touching and
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