I think my favorite (amd many others as well) text from the times is "Company Aytch." Sam Watkins, a confederate soldier writes with pathos and humor about the war.   It was originally written for a newspaper in Columbia, Tennessee and I think it was called "Report from Co. Aytch" at the time but whatever it was it stands as possibly the very best account of the life of these men. This covers mainly the war in the west (meaning Tennessee back then) from Shiloh to Atlanta with notable stops at Nashville, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga.

I lived in both Nashville and Chattanooga and used to spend many hours at Chickamauga. I am forever taken with the terrain through the plateau and into the mountains at Chattanooga. I thought often of men making this trek in the late winter and spring with piss poor shoes, wet woolen clothing (or less), blankets the same, living on limited food with both armies ill supplied overall....................It was indeed a different breed of men.


Spaw