
The Man: Sam Watkins was born on June 26, 1839 near Columbia, Tennessee. Prior to the war, he attended Jackson College at Columbia. During his life he was a farmer, storekeeper, soldier and a brilliant writer. In 1861, he left his home and beloved Jenny to enlist in Company H of the First Tennessee Regiment of the Confederate Army. During the next four years, he fought in a number of major battles including, Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, The Hundred Days Battles, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin and Nashville. Three thousand, two hundred men were in the First Tennessee Regiment in 1861. When General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the army of the Confederacy at Greensboro, North Carolina in 1865, only 65 men out of this regiment remained. Of the original 120 men who enlisted in Company H, Sam was one of seven alive at the surrender. Following the war, Sam returned home to Columbia to marry his Jenny and raise his family of "little Confederates." He died on July 20, 1901 at the age of 62.