A rather fascinating tale from what is probably the darkest time in US history. If you're looking for first hand accounts of the US Civil War, you just found a really good one. ( )

A gifted storyteller's first hand account of everything from the day-to-day life of a Confederate private soldier to several major battles of the Civil War. ( )

I'd never heard of Company Aytch before stumbling upon it at LibriVox performed by one of my favorite narrators, Winston Tharp. I'm glad I listened to it since it translates well to audio, Tharp has a natural gift that brings back alive this old southern raconteur's conversational memoir. At times it seemed like a modernist or post-modernist work but really it was just Sam rebelling convention. The most interesting of course is the private's view of the war and I was amazed at how brutal Confederate soldiers were treated by top commanders and other petty acts on down the line. Sam saw a lot of death and details graphically brains slopping out into food plates, etc.. terrible but he remains lighthearted. Great memoir from any war this is a classic that has been widely quoted. ( )

4829. "Co. Aytch," Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment, or, A Side Show of the Big Show, by Sam R. Watkins (read 5 Jun 2011) This book was written in 1881 and first published in book form in 1882. The author was in Company H of the First Tennessee all through the Civil WAr, and it is as good a memoir as I have read of that war by one who fought in it. It is fetchingly written, with touches of humor, waxing poetic and sentimental often. As is to be expected,, I suppose, in war memoirs, he claims they lost only one battle. He was devoted to the South's cause and it is clear that that cause was in defense of a great evil (slavery) never entered into his head. But the badness of his cause is what leads me to award the book only three stars. ( )

This book is considered the creme of the first person accounts of Civil War soldiers. And it is a good book. I particularly appreciated the sarcasm dripping from many parts of the book, to the point where one didn't know if Mr. Watkins was being sarcastic or sincere. I was also struck with his contempt for officers, which is fair enough for a private soldier, but the unconscious irony of his praise of most of the officers and generals who had actual influence on his life. It is also striking how high his morale seemed to be, for the most part, despite being part of an Army that was generally defeated, much like the Army of the Potomac was in the East. I recommend it, but it does not leave me thinking that I've now seen into the mind of a Confederate squaddie. ( )