The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1 | Page 5

for the calling of a public meeting of the citizens of that
town to sustain the government. It was one of the first--if not the first
of the many, held throughout the country.
Upon the breaking out of the war in 1861 Mr. Coffin left the editorial
department of the Journal and became a correspondent in the field,
writing his first letter from Baltimore, June 15, over the signature of
"Carleton"--selecting his middle name for a nom de plume.
He accompanied the right wing under General Tyler, which had the
advance in the movement to Bull Run, and witnessed the first
encounter at Blackburn's Ford, July 18. He returned to Washington the

next morning with the account, and was back again on the succeeding
morning in season to witness the battle of Bull Run, narrowly escaping
capture when the Confederate cavalry dashed upon the panic-stricken
Union troops. He reached Washington during the night, and sent a full
account of the action the following morning.
During the autumn he made frequent trips from the army around
Washington to Eastern Maryland, and the upper Potomac, making long
rides upon the least sign of action. Becoming convinced, in December,
that the Army of the Potomac was doomed to inaction during the winter,
the correspondent, furnished with letters of introduction to Generals
Grant and Buell from the Secretary of War, proceeded west. Arriving at
Louisville he found that General Buell had expelled all correspondents
from the army. The letter from the Secretary of War vouching for the
loyalty and integrity of the correspondent was read and tossed aside
with the remark that correspondents could not be permitted in an army
which he had the honor to command.
Mr. Coffin proceeded to St. Louis, took a look at the army then at Rolla,
in Central Missouri, but discovering no signs of action in that direction
made his way to Cairo where General Grant was in command. General
Grant's headquarters were in the second story of a tumble-down
building.
No sentinel paced before the door. Ascending the stairs and knocking,
Mr. Coffin heard the answer, "Come in." Entering, he saw a man in a
blue blouse sitting upon a nail-keg at a rude desk smoking a cigar.
"Is General Grant in?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
Supposing the man on the nail keg with no straps upon his shoulder to
be only a clerk or orderly, he presented his letter from the Secretary of
War, with the remark, "Will you please present this to General Grant?"
whereupon the supposed clerk glanced over the lines, rose, extended
his hand and said, "I am right glad to see you. Please take a nail keg!"

There were several empty nail kegs in the apartment, but not a chair.
The contrast to what he had experienced with General Buell was so
great that the correspondent could hardly realize that he was in the
presence of General Grant, who at once gave him the needed facilities
for attaining information.
The rapidity of the correspondent's movements--the quickness with
which he took in the military situation, may be inferred from the dates
of his letters. On January 6, 1862, he wrote a letter detailing affairs at
St. Louis. On the eighth, he described affairs at Rolla in Central
Missouri. On the eleventh, he was writing from Cairo. The gunboats
under Commodore Foot were at Cairo, and the correspondent was
received with the utmost hospitality, not only by the Commodore, but
by all the officers.
Upon the movement of General Zolicoffer into Kentucky, Mr. Coffin
hastened to Louisville, Lexington, and Central Kentucky, but finding
affairs had settled down, hastened down the Ohio River on a steamboat,
reaching the mouth of the Tennessee just as the fleet under Commodore
Foot was entering the Ohio after capturing Fort Henry. Commodore
Foot narrated the events of the engagement, and Mr. Coffin, learning
that no correspondent had returned from Fort Henry, stimulated by the
thought of giving the Boston Journal the first information, jumped on
board the cars, wrote his account on the train, and had the satisfaction
of knowing that it was the first one published.
Returning to Cairo by the next train, he proceeded to Fort Donelson
and was present in the cabin of the steamer "Uncle Sam" when General
Buckner turned over the Fort, the Artillery, and 15,000 prisoners to
General Grant. He hastened to Cairo, wrote his account on the cars,
riding eastward, till it was complete, then returning, and arriving in
season to jump on board the gunboat Boston for a reconnoissanceof
Columbus.
Mr. Coffin continued with the fleet during the operation at Island No.
10. His knowledge of civil engineering enabled him to assist Captain
Maynadier of the engineers in directing the mortar firing. On one
occasion while mounted on a corn crib near a