on picked up a bullet just uncovered by the plow,
and in that bright and beautiful summer's day the whole scene of 1777
came back before him. From the author's map in "Burgoyne's Defence,"
giving a meagre sketch of the battle, he was able to retrace the
general lines of the American breastworks. This was the first of
scores of careful study on the spot and reproduction in imagination of
famous battles, which Carleton made and enjoyed during his life.

He was also present at the International Exhibition in New York,
seeing, on the opening day, President Franklin Pierce and his Cabinet.
The popular idol of the hour was General Winfield Scott, of an
imposing personal appearance which was set off by a showy uniform. He
was the hero of the two wars, and expected to be President. In
personal vanity, in bravery, and in military science, Scott was
without a superior, one of the ablest officers whose names adorn the
long and brilliant roll of the United States regular army.

Carleton wrote of General Scott: "A man of great egotism, an able
general, but who never had any chance of an election. He was the last
candidate of a dying political party which never was aggressive and
which was going down under the slave power, to which it had allied
itself."

Mr. Coffin writes further: "The passage of the Compromise Measures of
1850 gave great offence to the radical wing of the anti-slavery party.
The members of that wing were very bitter towards Daniel Webster for
his part in its passage. I was heart and soul in sympathy with the
grand idea of anti-slavery, but did not believe in fierce denunciation
as the best argument. I did not like the compromise, and hated the
odious fugitive slave law, but I nevertheless believed that Mr.
Webster was sincere in his desire to avert impending trouble. I
learned from Hon. G. W. Nesmith, of Franklin, president of the
Northern railroad, that Mr. Webster felt very keenly the assaults upon
him, and the manifest alienation of his old friends. Mr. Nesmith
suggested that his old-time neighbors in Boscawen and Salisbury should
send him a letter expressive of their appreciation of his efforts to
harmonize the country, and that the proper person to write the
letter was the Rev. Mr. Price, ex-pastor of the Congregational church
in West Boscawen, in whom the county had great confidence. A few days
later, at the invitation of Mr. Price, I went over the rough draft
with him in his study. The letter was circula