George H. Coffin was my grandfather.  In 1925, at the age of 80, he produced two typewritten manuscripts. One of these was a history and genealogy of the Coffin family in eastern Washington County, Maine.  The other was this, an account of his service in the Civil War. He died in 1931.

    I vaguely recall my father, Robert L. Coffin, mentioning to me his disappointment at his numerous failed attempts to borrow this manuscript from his one surviving brother in order to make copies for my sister and myself.  When Father died in 1976, Esther and I found among his things an envelope labeled "for Father's war story."  It contained a portrait of Grandfather in uniform, his military insignia, and six copy negatives of papers related to his war story, including the first page.

    I then made a concerted effort to track down the manuscript.  It was finally located stored away in the attic of a cousin in Maine.  He declined to loan the manuscript or even a photocopy, but he did mail me a carbon copy of the diary as retyped by his wife.  In April of 1976, I in turn retyped that version on my own typewriter and had 100 rather poor photocopies printed and stapled.  These were distributed to relatives, friends, libraries, and other interested parties.

    In this second and improved 2002 edition, I am typing, printing, and binding only a few copies on my own home office equipment.  This time several pages of photos and related documents have been added that were not included in the previous version.  I am typing it nearly verbatim as taken from my cousin's faint and much corrected carbon copy in what I hope is a fairly accurate reproduction of Grandfather's original writing. My cousin and his wife have long since died, they had no children, and so Grandfather's original manuscript is presumed to be altogether lost.