Company Aytch as a Primary Source Company Aytch is a book written from the point of view of a confederate soldier during the American civil war. The book does succeed in being a historical primary source. The soldier, Samuel R. Watkins, speaks of all the events he participated in or heard about during the war times from the beginning to the confederate surrender. His telling of the stories are from his own point of view from during the war for the majority of the book. The entirety of his participation in the war is documented throughout the book with the intention of someone else reading it. The book, Company Aytch, is a good example of a primary source because it is from somebody involved in the events described, shows the confederate side …show more content…
Company Aytch is a strong primary source because it is a wealth of information written by someone directly involved in the war with the purpose of informing the readers about the events of the war. Even Samuel himself acknowledges that the soldier knows the most about the events of the war in the book. He says that anyone who is not directly fighting in the war with weapons does not know about the hardships and horror of the war which is shown to be true throughout the book. This is a strong reason for why this is a good primary source. The author could not have possibly been more involved in the events that he is describing. However, when he writes the book, the events have already ended. The book is weak as a primary source because the events are all written down after they were over. While they seem to be accurate descriptions from a person involved in the events, they are written after the events have happened. Being written during the event is a very important piece of being a primary source. The author fails to actually write them down while they are happening which makes the argument that the book is a primary source weaker. While that does make the argument weaker, the book is still written by an involved person, which stands out much more than the …show more content…
While he writes about the events after they happened, his experience and detail involved in the book make up that. This book provides a greater understanding of the civil war from a side that is not usually written about. Overall, understanding of the civil war is expanded after reading this book. So it stands not just as a good source for information but also a primary source because of the author’s perspective. The confederate side of the story is silenced often because they lost. However, hearing the loser’s side of any story is extremely helpful in understanding the full scope of the story. Understanding both sides of any event helps the reader understand why the story unfolded the way it did. Reading Company Aytch helps readers understand what the confederate soldiers were going through and why they lost the war. Understanding what was going through soldiers minds and what mistakes they made helps the reader understand the entire war more overall. In the end, Company Aytch is a primary source because it is from someone directly involved in the war, gives great detail about the war, and it shows a side of the war that is not usually
1.) The author of this letter was A.G. Argenbright and he wrote this letter in 1861. He writes about a doctor appointment that he had. His audience is a Captain.
The second half of Grand Design by Donal Stoker continues on with Stoker’s analysis of the war. He seemingly continues his support and provides evidence of the Union’s strategic thinking and analysis before battles. Stoker continues his top down approach of the war that he clearly states in the beginning of the book, which at times can cause some aggression states when analyzing the strategic components of this war. Its interesting and entertaining at points which makes the reader question if some statements are true when Stoker does not provide citations. Stoker’s top down approach also seemed to tarnish some of his analysis of the war because the leadership of the Civil War was not always a hierarchal state of command.
Dealing with the historical record can be challenging at times, especially for scholars and historians. Most information about past events have either been lost or have been tampered with over the years. Some information has also been exaggerated or some have been too vague. The chapter, “The Indiens Was Upon Us!” from Paul E. Kopperman’s book, “Braddock at the Monongahela,” is any example of how challenging it is for scholars to deal with the historical record.
In the book A Proper Sense of Honor: Service and Sacrifice in George Washington’s Army by Caroline Cox, the author’s main point is to shed light on and provide examples of the divide between officers and enlisted men in the Continental Army of the American Revolution. The divide was very clear, and was in place in all aspects of their respective lives, the officers being higher on the totem pole, while the enlisted men were decidedly lower. The chapters of this book go into detail about specific aspects that show the division between how officers and enlisted men were treated: punishment, health care, death and burial, and the treatment of prisoners of war. Overall, Cox does a great job of explaining her main theme in depth, and gives readers
The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History.
The Civil War produced by Ken Burns’ qualifies as an immensely powerful, educative and interesting film production. Due to the fact that writing was popular amongst Americans, Burns’ contextualised the civil war by representing not just the writings of the great leaders and generals but also the ones from the wives, the doctors, the farmers, the newspaper editors etc... More importantly the words of the soldiers involved in this vicious war. Burns showed the importance of fighting this war by going through the lives of average people caught up in events they may not have completely comprehended, but which they believed in. Burns used maps, historical context, photographs, music and speech to teach us the story of the second most influential
He teaches the reader about a couple of the most important battles and generals of the civil war. Instead of being a plain research book about the civil war, he gives us accounts of true yet hilarious events during the civil war, such as a soldier rushing into battle with half of his hair shaved because he couldn’t finish his haircut. Or even about the time opposing soldiers did not fight and instead met at a river to trade goods like newspaper, tobacco, and card in makeshift boats. Steve Sheinkin explains the Civil war in simple, perhaps oversimplified tales and fact. This, however, does not take away the depth of the book, fully going into slavery and the impact of cotton, he does his part in explaining the Civil War.
For this assignment, I have chosen to read the story Band of Brothers written by Stephen E. Ambrose. The author came from a great deal of knowledge as he was previously a history professor for over four decades. Mr. Ambrose set out to interview the E. Company, 506th regiment, 101st Airborne division regarding their experiences during World War II. During World War II, they fought Germany on D-Day at the beaches of Normandy and were able to make it all the way to what was known as Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. Stephen Ambrose wrote several stories on World War II but he tells this specific one through a narrative point of view. He explains the events that transpired through the eyes of the interviewed soldiers in order to give us external insight.
Primary sources are documents written by those who experienced a particular event first hand. They help students understand what it was like to live through certain occasions and allows them to comprehend what all is happening besides the fighting in the war. These sources give insight and more detailed experiences that one would not learn through a textbook or even in school. Textbooks tend to leave out significant events that are important in the history of the United States. "
Maybe people care a lot about what other people think; or, maybe they just do not care at all. Some people live by what other people want or think is “normal.” Other people live the way they want to live and do not care about the things other people want them to be. Women tend to struggle with this alot. Stereotypes, inequalities, and politics were not things women in the 1930s wanted to live by; although, they managed to make it better for themselves through political action over time.
It showed me a new perspective on the south and its ways of life before and after the war. Before reading this a person from the north only saw how the south had slaves and didn 't want to give them up; being taught that the south was just keeping slaves and that the war started because this did not adhere to the Emancipation Proclamation. In reading this book, the reader learns how the laws made to prevent slaves from uprising or creating a balanced system was not going to happen anytime while living in North Florida after the war. Most slaves couldn 't even live within the city limits without paying a fee or 5 days in jail (Schafer 11). The fact that during Lincoln 's first election, he wasn 't even on the Florida Ballot was a shock.
In chapter one, Lincoln and Liberty, of Chandra Manning’s What This Cruel War Was Over, (2007), Manning explains that although there were many reasons for why a solider white or black, Union or Confederate, slavery was the ultimate cause of the Civil War. At first Manning lists all the reasons soldiers from certain backgrounds enlisted but then she shows how those reasons were connected to slavery or how slavery very quickly became the reason someone was fighting. She does this in order to show the reader that slavery affected everyone is some way or another and that is why it became the main cause of the war. I believe Manning is successful in showing the relation between slavery and the soldiers fighting for its continuation or its end. Manning
In chapter one of What They Fought For, I learned about the letters and diaries of the Confederate soldiers. The themes of the letters were home-sickness, lack of peace, and the defense of home against their invading enemy. The thought of soldiers fighting for their homes and being threatened by invaders, made them stronger when facing adversity. Many men expressed that they would rather die fighting for a cause, than dying without trying and this commitment showed patriotism. Throughout the letters, soldiers claimed their reason for fighting, was for the principles of Constitutional liberty and self-government.
Tony Howritz seeks to find out why the Civil War still captivates Americans today. From a young age Horwitz is educated about the Civil War from his 101
Coughlan also refers to William Faulkner, as a successful business man, started in Ripley the Railroad Company, and was also a writer (Coughlan 34). In the journal Faulkner and the Civil War: Myth and Reality by Douglas T. Miller states, "... Faulkner 's utilization of historical fact is the fictional career of Colonel John Sartoris, which so closely parallels the career of the authors own great-grandfather, Colonel William C. Falkner ' ' (Miller). The author Miller explains also the similarities between Faulkner 's great-grandfather and of his character Colonel Sartoris with such as, "... both fought well, but were demoted in rank ..." (Miller).