Co. Aytch ― Or, A Side Show Of The Big Show: The Illustrated Edition

Read this classic memoir from the American Civil War, complete with images and other perspectives, for an enriching, unforgettable experience.

This is the most famous and best-selling memoir of the American Civil War, now fully illustrated for the first time.

Samuel Watkins faithfully served throughout the duration of the Civil War. Of the 120 men who enlisted in "Company H" in 1861, Sam Watkins was one of only seven alive when General Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee surrendered to General William Tecumseh Sherman in North Carolina in April 1865. Of the 3,200 men who fought in the First Tennessee, only 65 were left to be paroled on that day.

Soon after the war ended, Watkins began writing his memoir, entitled Co. "Aytch": The First Tennessee Regiment or a Side Show of the Big Show,which is heralded by many historians as one of the best war memoirs written by a common soldier of the field. Sam's writing style is quite engaging and skillfully captures the pride, misery, glory, and horror experienced by the common foot soldier.

This edition of Co. "Aytch" includes context from contemporaries of Watkins, such as Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and William T. Sherman, as well as today's best contemporary historians, such as James M. McPherson. It is also richly illustrated with photos and illustrations from the Library of Congress, the George Eastman House, the National Parks Service, several major Civil War collections, and the National War College.

Samuel Watkins was in virtually all the major battles of the western theater of the American Civil War. His memoirs, which provide a common soldier's viewpoint of the war, continue to be studied by historians and enthusiasts.

James M. McPherson, professor emeritus at Princeton University, is the author ofBattle Cry of Freedom (winner of the Pulitzer Prize); Hallowed Ground; Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam; and many more best-selling and critically acclaimed books on the Civil War.