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.