Sam R Watkins

"Co. Aytch" Sam R Watkins

Samuel Rush "Sam" Watkins (June 26, 1839 - July 20, 1901) was an American writer and humorist. He fought through the entire Civil War and saw action in many major battles. Today, he is best known for his enduring memoir, "Co. Aytch," which recounts his life as a soldier in the Confederate States Army. In May 1861, twenty-one year old Sam Watkins of Maury County, Tennessee, rushed to join the army when his state left the Union. He became part of Company H (or Co. "Aytch," as he called it), First Tennessee Regiment, and would fight from Shiloh to Nashville and was one of only seven men who remained in the company when it was surrendered to Major-General W. T. Sherman in North Carolina, April 1865. When he died at sixty-two, Watkins was buried with full military honors....