Company Aytch

Book Description
"Company Aytch is one of my favorite Civil War books, ever."–Ken Burns

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.

About the Author
M. Thomas Inge is the Robert Emory Blackwell Professor of Humanities at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. Four times a senior Fulbright lecturer in universities abroad, he has edited more than thirty-five books, written award-winning books of his own on literature and popular culture, and contributed widely to scholarly publications. He lives in Ashland, Virginia.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Well Told Private's View of Confederate Service, January 3, 2000
By Wayne A. Smith (Wilmington, DE) - See all my reviews


Sam Watkins writes a novel like autobiography of his years with the Army of Tennessee. His service saw the front lines of every major battle including Shiloh, Chickamagua, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville. Amazingly, this rebel came through intact and lived to vividly record his experiences.
This book is much more impressionistic than a historic telling of the facts (which Watkins reminds the reader frequently). It lays bare the attitude of a rebel private (although one suspects Watkins is much more literate and sophistocated than many of his fellows in the ranks) who endured starvation, forced marches, punishing battles and the monotony and arbitrary nature of camp life while serving a losing cause.

Watkins does an excellent job of letting the reader into his head. He reveals well the base existence and actions of ordinary soldiers who paid for the drama of the Civil War with their youth, blood and life.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
War is Hell, but it's also awfully bureaucratic, March 22, 2006
By Glenn Yates (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews


Company Aytch may not be unique in the annals of war books, but it is certainly unusual. Plenty of soldiers have kept journals of their war days, and plenty of historians have quilted together pretty vivid accounts of various wars from such journals. I haven't read Thucydides multi-volume account of the Peloponnesian war, but based on excerpts his works come to mind, perhaps because like Company Aytch it was also written during a horrible civil war. Thucydides was a general, though, and Watkins was a foot soldier, and thus he gives us the terror, tedium, and even humor of war through the eyes of everyman. The sheer horror of "The Elephant" as the southerners called the battle, comes through even though the unblinking eye of the veteran of many campaigns has grown used to it. My uncle once told me you could get used to hanging if you did it long enough, and I suppose that happened a bit to these battle-hardened men, but still the process is fascinating, and for good or ill, we are also spared vivid descriptions of the worst of the horrors, even though at Franklin and other places he encountered them aplenty.
Because it is a ground up view, one rarely gets the big picture, and thus this book alone would not come close to giving you a War Between the States overview. It also somehow feels contemporary, as the intelligence and wit of the author caught up in the machinery and beauracracy of war between governments is something that rings a bell with us in the modern world.
As a supplement I would highly recommend it. In fact I'm not sure that any in depth study of the Civil War would be complete without it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
A Fine Civil War Memoir, May 13, 2001
By Mr Peter G George (Ellon, Aberdeenshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews


I would not really recommend Company Aytch to those who are totally unfamiliar with the history of the Civil War. Watkins does not describe in detail the events of the various battles he took part in. Major battles like Shiloh and Chickamauga are covered in a few pages. Thus a reader unfamiliar with what took place might be somewhat confused regarding the overall picture, for these memoirs are not really history, or if they are history, they are history in miniature. But it is this fact which makes them so vital and so interesting. Watkins is a fine writer and he vividly describes what it was like to be a Confederate soldier. His account is frequently very funny, often moving and at times horrific. Thus he fleshes out the events which standard history books describe in general terms. Most history books would tell of which regiment attacked which at the `Dead Angle' on Kennesaw Mountain, describe how many died on each side and fit it into the account of the Rebel retreat to Atlanta, but Watkins places the reader alongside him actually fighting this vicious battle. Watkins is also very good on the topic of the daily life of the Confederate soldier, his struggle to find adequate food and clothing and the tough discipline which could see a soldier shot by his own side for a relatively minor indiscretion. Watkins describes numerous executions through the course of the book and they are harrowing.
The quality of the writing in Company Aytch varies somewhat. At times Watkins can be repetitive, especially with his overly frequent statements that he is not writing history. His often-expressed, and fully understandable, hope to meet his fallen comrades in the hereafter tends towards a clichéd vision of heaven. But Watkins can also mock 19th century piety, as when he describes the response of the soldiers to a parson's sermon prior to the battle of Chickamauga. In this way he shows how he could move beyond the conventions of his time. It is this ability which makes Watkins such an original writer, at times even an experimental writer. Not all the experiments work, but when they do they leave a lasting and lively impression of what the Civil War must really have been like.

This edition of Company Aytch edited by M. Thomas Inge, includes a useful introduction, chronology and glossary, plus various other examples of Watkins's writing. These additional pieces are generally expansions of Company Aytch, providing further information and descriptions of events not fully described in the text.