Originally aired on July 03, 1998 - In part 201 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson discusses the role of patriotism during the Civil War. #201 – Patriotism Sam Watkins was a good soldier. He was a devoted Confederate who served in the Civil War as a member of the 1 st Tennessee. Watkins was also observant and articulate. He wrote this of one of the battles, “when the Yankees fell back and the firing ceased I never saw so many broken-down and exhausted men in my life. I was as sick as a horse and as wet with blood and sweat as I could be and many of our men were vomiting with excessive fatigue, over exhaustion and sunstroke. Their tongues were parched and cracked for water and their faces blackened with powder and smoke. And our dead and wounded piled indiscriminately in the trenches. There was not a single man in the company who was not wounded or did not have holes shot through his hat and clothing.” What caused men in the full bloom of life to