Company Aytch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Company Aytch - Essay Example aining of the soldiers in the face of the new technology in the field of war, this left horrific and devastating experiences to many people and influenced many young men to volunteer to fight through different companies, among them was Sam R.Watkins who was in the rank of common soldier and depicted as immortality through his 1882 memoir Company Aytch. The initial deployment of the troops took place on the proceeding day leaving the local residents in a dilemma whether to leave or to stay in their village, on the eve of the battle upon drawing picket duty, Watkins was surprised to discover a Union guard ‘Yankee’ that was on duty across the road, as Watkins explains that on that night they were not enemies â€Å"†¦We got very friendly †¦ and made a raid upon a citizen’s pantry where we captured a bucket of honey, a pitcher of sweet milk, and three or four biscuits† (Watkins 12) Watkins believes that the locals in this village were taken by surprise. Watkins recalls in his memoirs that in the following morning that a line was drawn between Perryville and the Yankee army, on the other side of the Yankees, they raised blue flag, ready for the war with their dogs threatening to attack, but the war did not start until 12 o’clock (Watkins 15). They were marching in a corn field when the Yankees opened their war dogs on them, they were attacked from the three lines from which they were able to counter attack killing every of their opponent mostly by the use of Napoleon guns, this resulted to many killings totalling to 55,396 federal soldiers and 16800 Braggs confederate soldiers (Watkins 27). One of the greatest characteristic of this war, was that for the first time, Henry Rifle was employed, the rifle was sold in Louisville and it is thought that it was bought by a soldier in Terrills, repeating rifle such as Spencer and Henry were considered to have been the most advanced infantry weapon , in fact the Henry which was an advancement of Winchester, was