Co. “Aytch”: First Tennessee Regiment
By Sam R. Watkins, Edited by Ruth Hill Fulton McAllister

Illustrated, 352 pp., 2007. Ruth Hill McAllister, P.O. Box 454, Mt. Pleasant, TN 38474, $34.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Blake A. Magner
Blake A. Magner is the Book Review Editor of Civil War News. He makes his liv­ing as an editor, writer, car­tographer and photographer of Civil War history. He is author of At Peace With Honor: The Civil War Burials of Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Review:
How does one edit, improve and republish a classic and beloved Civil War memoir?

Very carefully and with terrific sensitivity, one would hope, and I am pleased to report that Ruth Hill Fulton McAllister has employed this tender, soft approach in her superb editing of this fine new release of Co. “Aytch,”: First Tennessee Regiment.

Recently out after more than 125 years following the original publication of Co. “Aytch” Samuel R. Watkins’s great-granddaughter has materially enhanced the richness, context and unequaled emotive qualities of Co. “Aytch” by inserting significant new material and revisions that come directly from the worn pencil of Sam Watkins, private soldier.

After its original publication in 1882, Sam had lots of time to think about his memoirs, and it occurred to him he had some additional recollections and improvements to offer. But as things often happen in life, our best intentions go awry, and Sam never realized the objective of supplementing his memoir.

Ruth Hill Fulton McAllister has now fulfilled Sam’s vision by dedicating herself to the task of “completing” Sam’s book and, in doing so, this loving great-granddaughter also offers a valuable contribution to Civil War history.

Sam Watkins was one of those rare individuals who was able to write exactly like he talked, and Ms. McAllister wisely allows Sam “to do his own talking” by including only his additions and revisions in this beautifully presented book. The happy result is that this edition not only reads like the original, but one can also hear Sam Watkins speaking to us anew in his laconic, reflective and ironic fashion. In fact, we can’t get enough of him.

As one reads Sam Watkins, one lines up on the march and in battle with this brave soldier, and by the time I finished this expanded memoir, I was both exhausted and heartbroken.

Someone very wise once observed, “Grief is the price we pay for love,” and Sam’s love for his dead comrades continues to break many more hearts that Sam intended when he wrote Co. “Aytch.”

I sincerely congratulate this skilled editor for again bringing Sam Watkins back to life for all of us to enjoy and appreciate. Of course, what would we expect from someone in Tennessee who yet retains Sam Watkins’s DNA?