"Swept away by the patriotic fervor and thirst for adventure that gripped an entire generation of unfortunate young men, Watkins and most of his childhood friends enlisted in the Confederate Army, joining Company H of the 1st Tennessee Regiment. They marched off to war, little knowing that four long, horror-filled years awaited them, in which they would see action in almost every major battle of the western theater, including Shiloh, Perryville, Chickamauga, Atlanta, and Franklin."
"Watkins was born in June 1839 near Columbia, Tennessee, on the farm owned by his father. Like thousands of other young Southern men, he had never strayed far from this little patch of land and was readily seduced by the promise of adventure and glory offered by service in the Confederate Army. Watkins could still vividly recall the enthusiasm surrounding secession as he penned his memoirs in 1882, more than 20 years later."
Samuel Rush Watkins was born in June 1839 near Columbia, Tennessee, on his father's farm. At age 21, when Tennessee seceded in spring 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and joined Company H of the 1st Tennessee Regiment. He marched with his comrades into four years of war and fought in almost every major engagement of the western theater, including Shiloh, Perryville, Chickamauga, Atlanta, and Franklin. Company H began with 120 young men; only seven survived to the war's end, one of whom was Watkins. He later vividly recalled the intense public enthusiasm that accompanied secession.
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