le the city was a
sea of flame, entered the Spottsville hotel while the fire was raging on
three sides--wrote his name large on the register--the first to succeed
a long line of Confederate Generals and Colonels. When President Lincoln
arrived to enter the city, he had the good fortune to be down by the
river bank, and to him was accorded the honor of escorting the party to
General Weitzel's headquarters in the mansion from which Jefferson Davis
had fled without standing upon the order of departure.

With the fall of Richmond, and the surrender of Appomattox, Mr. Coffin's
occupation as an army correspondent ended. During these long years he
found time to write three volumes for juveniles--"Days and Nights on the
Battle Field," "Following the Flag," and "Winning his Way."

On July 25, 1866, Mr. Coffin sailed from New York for Europe,
accompanied by Mrs. Coffin, as correspondent of the Boston _Journal_.
War had broken out between Austria on the one side and Italy and
Germany on the other. It was of short duration; there was the battle
of Custozza in Italy and Konnigratz in Germany, followed by the
retirement of Austria from Italy, and the ascendency of Bismarck over
Baron Von Beust in the diplomacy of Europe. It was a favorable period
for a correspondent and Mr. Coffin's letters were regularly looked for
by the public. The agitation for the extension of the franchise was
beginning in England. Bearing personal letters from Senator Sumner,
Chief Justice Chase, General Grant, and other public men, the
correspondent had no difficulty in making the accquaintance of the men
prominent in the management of affairs on the other side of the water.
Through the courtesy of John Bright, who at once extended to Mr. Coffin
every hospitality, he occupied a chair in the speaker's gallery of the
House of Commons on the grand field night when Disraelli, then Prime
Minister, brought in the suffrage bill. While in Great Britain Mr.
Coffin made the acquaintance not only of men in public life, but many of
the scientists,--Huxley, Tyndal, Lyell, Sir William Thompson. At the
social Science Congress held in Belfast, Ireland, presided over by Lord
Dufferin, he gave an address upon American Common Schools which was
warmly commended by the London _Times_.

An introduction to the literary clubs of London gave him an opportunity
to make the acquaintance of the literary guild. He was present at the
dinner given to Charles Dickens before the departure