Rubbishplayer
Well-Known Member
Just finished "Company Aytch" by Sam Watkins. A personal memoir of an ordinary private in the Confederate Army of Tennessee during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. Got this after watching Ken Burns's excellent documentary series "The Civil War" and hearing many quotes from these memoirs.
This book is an excellent insight into the experience of the ordinary Confederate soldier who didn't own any slaves and only knew that he was defending his homeland from invaders. It's also revealing to see how much the politics of the time still echo today and, in some ways, how little has changed.
I'm very much on the side of the Union in this chapter of history, if only because of the eventual emancipation of the slaves that resulted. But too often history wants to polarise wars as being between "good" and "evil", whereas the reality is often "Rich man's war; poor man's fight".
A good and honest individual story and far more compelling than any fiction.
This book is an excellent insight into the experience of the ordinary Confederate soldier who didn't own any slaves and only knew that he was defending his homeland from invaders. It's also revealing to see how much the politics of the time still echo today and, in some ways, how little has changed.
I'm very much on the side of the Union in this chapter of history, if only because of the eventual emancipation of the slaves that resulted. But too often history wants to polarise wars as being between "good" and "evil", whereas the reality is often "Rich man's war; poor man's fight".
A good and honest individual story and far more compelling than any fiction.