10. Jefferson Davis was indicted for treason after the Civil War
As the American Civil War came to an end, Jefferson Davis was captured on May 10, 1865, in Irwinville, Georgia, and transferred to Fortress Monroe in Virginia, where he was originally kept in shackles in the casemate. While he was in custody, in response to public pressure and from many former abolitionists who needed a new issue upon which to focus their anger, he was indicted for the crime of treason against the United States. At first, Davis was kept in isolation, in conditions which were damaging to his health, only visited by military officials and doctors. Gradually the conditions of his confinement improved while Congress and other Washington figures dickered and bickered over bringing the former President of the Confederates States of America to trial under the indictment.
Davis himself wanted a trial, supported by the belief that during a trial evidence could be presented which supported the legality of secession. The same argument was used by opponents of a trial for treason in the House of Representatives, which nonetheless voted 105 -19 in support of trying him for treason, and went so far as to impanel a petit jury in May of 1867. The 24 men (12 black) panel was selected by John Curtiss Underwood, a Circuit Court Judge, but still, no trial went forward. Davis was released from custody under $100,000 bail after being confined for two years but remained under indictment until President Andrew Johnson issued a general pardon and amnesty on Christmas Day, 1868. In February of the following year the indictment for treason was dismissed.