Secretary Walker returned last night, having heard of the
death of Col. Jones before reaching his destination. I doubt whether the
Secretary would have thought a second time of what had been done in his
absence, if some of his friends had not fixed his attention upon it. He shut
himself up pretty closely, and none of us could see or hear whether he was
angry. But calling me into his room in the afternoon to write a dispatch which
he dictated, I saw, lying on his table, an envelope directed in his own hand to
the President. Hints had been circulated by some that it was his purpose to
resign. Could this communication be his resignation? It was placed so
conspicuously before me where I sat that it was impossible not to see it. It
was marked, too, “immediate.”
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 74
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