The Boys of '61 or Four Years of Fighting, Personal Observations with the Army and Navy is a collection of extraordinary notes and personal experiences of Charles Carleton Coffin during the war from the battle of Bull Run to the battle at Richmond. Excerpt: "Ideas and Principles.— Battles witnessed. — The Leaders. — The state of Affairs. — Baltimore. — Dulness in the Streets. — Baltimore Women. — Raw Troops. — Visit Fort McHenry. — Washington. — Material of the Army. — Generals in Command. — General Scott. — His Position. — Newspaper Reports. — Troops organized. — The Gathering of the Rebels1 CHAPTER I. AROUND WASHINGTON. Alexandria. — The Massachusetts Fifth. — A Song for Bunker Hill — The Review. — The Distant Gun. — The Affair at Vienna. — A Dinner in the Field. — Vallandigham and the Ohio Boys. — Patriotism of the Soldiers..."

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Charles Carleton Coffin was an American journalist, Civil War correspondent, author and politician. Coffin was one of the best-known newspaper correspondents of the American Civil War.

Coffin writes his personal observations while with the United States Army and Navy during the Civil War. From the first battle of Bull Run to the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee, he experienced the war at close quarters and takes us through the intimacy of the march and the camp, among ordinary men and officers, as momentous events unfolded and important decisions were made.

Excerpt from The Boys of 61: Or Four Years of Fighting; Personal Observation With the Army and Navy, From the First Battle of Bull Run to the Fall of Richmond The four years have been worth a century of ordinary life for in the mighty contest Right has triumphed over Wrong, and the human race, with a clearer perception of Truth and Justice as the sure foundation of government, is moving on to a higher civilization. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.