# Civil War question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2000, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795 "2000-12-30T15:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/1 "2000-12-30T15:35:31Z")
Why were the leaders of the insurrection of 1861-1865 in th U.S., the Civil War, not prosecuted for treason. After all, John Brown had been convicted of treason in Virginia in the 1850’s and hanged. Numerous rebellious slaves had been hanged. Native Americans who rose in rebellion in New Ulm, Minnesota the civil war were hanged as a result. Meanwhile, the leaders of the Confederacy went home to die peacefully in their beds, even though hundreds of thousands had died in the rebellion that they started. How did this happen? ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/2 "2000-12-30T15:38:20Z")
Spirit of reconciliation. Jefferson Davis was imprisoned for a time, if that counts. But stringing up someone as widely beloved as R.E.Lee would have just started another insurrection. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/3 "2000-12-30T15:49:55Z")
Davis and Lee were also stripped of their citizenship. It was a largely symbolic gesture back then, but some accounts I’ve read said that Lee was particularly bitter about it. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/4 "2000-12-30T16:53:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Recherché \* > \*\*That’s because he was a US general at the start of the war, and considered himself a Patriot. Try flag-wrapping zealot. Think Patton or MacArthur. \*\* And what, pray tell, is your problem with Patton and MacArthur? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/5 "2000-12-30T17:13:33Z")
There was a significant portion of the Republican party that wanted to hang all of the major Confederate leaders, but fortunately cooler heads prevailed. After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson gave out a lot of pardons to former Confederates. It would have been too difficult for the country to go through a “Reign of Terror” type Reconstruction. Eventually, the former VP of the Confederacy ended up back in Congress. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/6 "2000-12-30T17:37:53Z")
Were the Indians at New Ulm tried for treason? John Brown was, I believe, tried for treason against the State of Virginia, not the U.S. In any event, all the people mentioned in the OP were also personally involved in violent acts that resulted in deaths. The leaders of the Confederacy were gentlemen who debated policy in statehouses and voted and signed declarations of their intent to secede. I am not justifying the differences in the responses to their actions. That _is_ however, the way the world tends to work. **RTA** ’s comment is also true. There _were_ calls among the Radical Republicans for treason trials, but even among that group, the general feeling was that punishing the peoples of the rebellious states with Federal oversight was more productive than hanging the leaders and causing more resentment. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/7 "2000-12-30T18:51:10Z")
_One_ Confederate leader left the country. Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin escaped to England where he set up a successful law practice. He may have suspected at the time that reconciliation might stop with Protostants. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/8 "2000-12-30T18:53:38Z")
Make that _Protestants_ ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/9 "2000-12-30T20:31:15Z")
They did hang Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of the infamous Andersonville prison camp, although he was found guilty of murder rather than treason. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/10 "2000-12-30T21:03:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alessan \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Recherché \* > > \*\*That’s because he was a US general at the start of the war, and considered himself a Patriot. Try flag-wrapping zealot. Think Patton or MacArthur. \*\* > > And what, pray tell, is your problem with Patton and MacArthur? \*\* Unless I miss my guess, **Rech** was merely opining that prior to secession, Lee was every bit as much a super-patriot as Patton or MacArthur. But I’ll let him/her speak for his/herself if there is a different interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/11 "2000-12-31T01:33:18Z")
[hijack] > [@](#): > > Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin escaped to England where he set up a successful law practice. He also wrote the classic text on “Sale of Goods,” now in its umpeeteenth edition, which is still a basic text in commonwealth law schools. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/12 "2000-12-31T08:17:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*The leaders of the Confederacy were gentlemen. \*\* I guess that refers to their economic status? ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/13 "2000-12-31T10:01:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by galen \* > \*\* Meanwhile, the leaders of the Confederacy went home to die peacefully in their beds, even though hundreds of thousands had died in the rebellion that they started. How did this happen? \*\* The damn yankees started that war. (sorry had to say it & I’m not doing another civil war GD again) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/14 "2000-12-31T14:00:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jackmannii \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > > The leaders of the Confederacy were gentlemen. > > I guess that refers to their economic status? It refers to the perception of them that was most likely held by the political leaders in the North at the time. It was a mildly ironic point made in contrast to the people mentioned in the OP who _were_ executed, none of whom would have been held to be gentlemen by the authorities responsible for apprehending, trying, or executing them. ---
**Author:** ![nebuli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/0ea827/32.png) [@nebuli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebuli)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/15 "2000-12-31T15:49:45Z")
Another factor in why the Federal authorities did not institute treason trials against Confederate figures was that convictions were not a sure thing. After sending hundreds of thousands to their deaths and spending huge amounts of money to crush secession, the Feds did not want to risk having a court find that the Confederate leaders did in fact have a constitutional right to secede. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/16 "2000-12-31T18:52:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by labdude \* > \*\*The damn yankees started that war. > \*\* Ah, denial. [http://www.civilwarhome.com/ftsumter.htm](http://www.civilwarhome.com/ftsumter.htm) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2000, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/17 "2000-12-31T21:14:03Z")
The last time folks seized on a Civil War-related General Question as an excuse to re-fight the damned war, I deleted posts. I’m not going to do that again. But we just might delete posters. Take it to Great Debates, capice? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-question/47795/18 "2001-01-01T01:46:55Z")
Lumpy: > [@](#): > > They did hang Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of the infamous Andersonville prison camp, although he was found guilty of murder rather than treason Actually, he was the first person ever tried and convicted of war crimes. And, he was German (go figure).