Civil War and Reconstruction
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Sam Watkins's description of standing watch
That night I stood picket on the Potomac with a detail of the Third Arkansas Regiment…I had to stand all night. I could hear the rumblings of the Federal artillery and wagons, and hear the low shuffling sound made by troops on the march.
About midnight the snow ceased to fall, and became quiet…While I was peering through the darkness, my eyes suddenly fell upon the outlines of a man. The more I looked the more I was convinced that it was a Yankee picket. I could see his hat and coat—yes, see his gun. I was sure that it was a Yankee picket. What was I to do?
At last a cold sweat broke out all over my body. Turkey bumps rose. I summoned all the nerve and bravery I could command, and said: “Halt! Who goes there?”
There being no response, I became resolute. I did not wish to fire and arouse the camp, but I marched right up to it and stuck my bayonet through and through it. It was a stump. I tell the above, because it illustrates a part of many a private’s recollections of war; part of the hardships and suffering they go through.
Co. Aytch: A Confederate Memoir of the Civil War
By Sam R. Watkins, p.34-35
(Watkins was born in 1839 near Columbia, Tennessee. He was 21 years old when he enlisted in the Confederate Army, and served until the end of the war, fighting in many of the war’s major battles. Of the 120 men who enlisted in Company H. in 1861, Sam was one of only seven still alive at the end.)
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