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Book Review Of Co Aytch Or A Side Show Of The Big Show By Sam Watkins

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Book Review: Co Aytch or a Side Show of the Big Show Sam Watkins was born in 1839 in Tennessee where he enlisted to join to the First Tennessee Regiment and fight alongside the Tennessean Confederate Army. During his time in the Civil War, Watkins identified himself as Maury Grays. In his memoir, Co. Aytch or a Side Show of the Big Show, Sam distinctively displays details to describe his life changing experiences from conflicts that arose from the war such as when he discusses his battle at Shiloh. Being that Samuel endured the Civil War himself, his vivid descriptions are even more believable. Furthermore, in Co Aytch, Watkins constantly reminds readers that he, in no way, “intends to write history; rather, he sought to convey his own impressions of a ‘few sketches and incidents from the observation of a ‘high private’ in the rear ranks of the rebel army, …show more content…

Watkins illustrates the history of the Civil War through the perspective most like an average, gentle man; he even writes small eulogies for those fallen before him. In addition to his outstanding use of descriptions that allow readers to visualize his experiences and share his emotions, Watkins also uses slightly humorous tactics to bring ease to the horrors of the greatest, bloodiest war in history. After the enactment of laws like the conscription act and the law allowing only those with twenty negros permission to go home, Watkins described the Civil War as “a rich man’s war, a poor man’s fight.” Watkin’s main purpose was to portray those “fellows who did the shooting and killing, the fortifying and ditching, the sweeping of the streets, the drilling, the standing guard, and who drew eleven dollars per month and rations, and drew the ramrod and tore the cartridge.” Unlike most writers, Watkins does not leave the reader questioning what or how things were during that period; he writes very descriptively and spares little to no detail about the subject,

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Company Aytch summarizes the war through the eyes of a mere foot soldier, who really cannot change the outcome of the war, whether he dies or not. The book opens with Watkins describing why he writes and what he sees before the war, which is two very distinct groups, one campaigning for recognition of the North and the South, and the other wishing to be one and undivided. He describes himself as mistakenly being a part of the former and wishes against it as he writes Company Aytch but contradicts it by saying the South is right for seceding and will always be right (3-7). Throughout the book, Watkins shares the horrors of war and is one of the few authors to really describe the violence that is war. To really inform the reader of the tragedy of war, Watkins describes his day-to-day life with the struggle of finding adequate food, clothing and often having to witness friends die, whether it be from a Union soldier or an execution of a Confederate among Confederates.

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