Company Aytch or a Side Show of the Big Show

SAMUEL R. WATKINS (1839–1901) was born in 1839 near Columbia, Tennessee. He enlisted into the First Tennessee Infantry, Company H at the beginning of the Civil War. Upon surrender, Watkins was one out of only seven men remaining from the 120 originally listed in his regiment. Encouraged by friends and family, Watkins first published his memories as a newspaper series and then finally in book form in 1882. His great-granddaughter RUTH HILL FULTON McALLISTER earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Vanderbilt University, and lives in Columbia, Tennessee. ROBERT HICKS is the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country: A Story of Redemption in the Aftermath of the Civil War. He lives near Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee.

“This is a marvelous expansion of the best memoir of a fighting soldier south of the Mason-Dixon Line we have.” —Ken Burns, producer of the PBS documentary The Civil War “All of us have something to celebrate in this edition of Company Aytch with Sam’s own revisions.” —Robert Hicks, author, The Widow of the South ""Long considered indispensible reading for any Civil War buff, the book's droll candor and sense of irony provide an unforgettable glimpse into the experience—both the drudgery and the extraordinary—of the average Civil War soldier."" —The History Channel's Daily History “Watkins’s revision and additions enhance and refine his story. Some of them are pointed, others hilarious, but they all add depth to one of the must-read soldier narratives.” —William C. Davis, Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech ""Historians, documentarians, and novelists—from Ken Burns to Margaret Mitchell—all rely, for Civil War period detail, on the text of Company Aytch . . . this edition, revised according to Watkins's notes from the 1890s, includes many corrections and additions and should be considered the definitive text of the book."" —Ralph Bowden, Chapter 16 ""When it comes to books about the Civil War, many people agree wholeheartedly, Company Aytch is the best ever written."" —GenealogyBlog ""The Civil War memoir of Sam Watkins, veteran of every hard-fought battle of Company H, First Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, remains the premier source of the private's view of that colossal struggle. . . . This volume is an updated, well-edited—by his great-granddaughter—republication of Watkins's original 1882 work. . . . No serirous student of the Civil War should be without a copy."" —Roanoke Times