Thus the devilish scheme originated by the wretched Dahlgren to get possession of the Confederate Capital, was frustrated. I say devilish, for upon his inanimate body was found papers that will cover his name forever with infamy. Although not the senior officer, he had command of the expedition, and these papers prove that it was his purpose to murder President Davis and the members of his cabinet, destroy the city, and give its women up to the lusts of his brutal soldiers. But, to thwart his hellish designs, God interposed a little band of brave men, and the city was not only saved, but the hirelings of Yankeedom scattered to the four winds, and its leader’s career brought to an ignominious end, by a bullet from the gun of a mere boy. It is indeed hard to conceive how a heart so young should have been so steeped in wickedness; but his own history, written by his own hand just before the wrath of an offended God overtook him, cannot be denied. It is a little singular that this man should have lost his leg, in the streets of Hagerstown, at the hands of one of the officers of the very command that baulked him in his wholesale attempt at murder, arson and outrage. For the services rendered upon this occasion Colonel Johnson won his rank as Brigadier General, which had been so long denied him by the Confederate Congress, although urged upon them months before by General Jackson, who had kept a vacancy in the Third Brigade open for him, and had refused to assign the command to any one else. This body of wise men contended that Maryland had its share of general officers, and could have no more, no matter how great the merit or ability the applicant might present for their august consideration. No, these important positions must be parcelled out as a fisherwoman does her stock in trade, and old and superannuated political hulks who aspired to a command were to be served first. So it was with the gallant Colonel Edwin Willis, of Georgia, who was killed at Cold Harbor. This young man, with a thorough military education, and one of the most brilliant and comprehensive minds in the South, and whose promotion had been more than once urged, was compelled to act in a subordinate capacity because Toombs and Cobb and other useless political generals stood in his way. CHAPTER VI.