On Christmas Day of 1868, President Andrew Johnson, who was not re-elected after having failed to be re-nominated, issued a blanket pardon for all remaining Confederate officeholders. An earlier pardon, in July, covered all Confederates who were not already under indictment, meaning that only Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and a few others, faced any possibility of trial.

On May 10, 1865, Mr Davis was captured by Union soldiers in Irwinville Georgia. Sent to Fort Monroe, off Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, he was imprisoned in a fortress casement, in leg irons ordered by General Nelson Miles. His health deteriorating, he was removed from leg irons and the conditions of his captivity improved. He was indicted on charges of treason, but though the Congress wanted a treason trial, there were many worriers in the North that the legal process of a trial could somehow declare secession to be constitutional. From Wikipedia:

After two years of imprisonment, Davis was released on bail of $100,000, which was posted by prominent citizens including Horace Greeley, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Gerrit Smith. (Smith was a member of the Secret Six who financially supported abolitionist John Brown.) Davis went to Montreal, Quebec, to join his family which had fled there earlier, and lived in Lennoxville, Quebec, until 1868, while his son Jefferson Jr. and William attended Bishop’s College School. He also visited Cuba and Europe in search of work. At one stage he stayed as a guest of James Smith, a foundry owner in Glasgow, who had struck up a friendship with Davis when he toured the Southern States promoting his foundry business. Davis remained under indictment until Andrew Johnson issued on Christmas Day of 1868 a presidential “pardon and amnesty” for the offense of treason to “every person who directly or indirectly participated in the late insurrection or rebellion” and after a federal circuit court on February 15, 1869, dismissed the case against Davis after the government’s attorney informed the court that he would no longer continue to prosecute Davis.

Robert E Lee was indicted but never tried, and never imprisoned.

Now, why do I bring this up?

The Civil War lasted for four long years, and resulted in almost a million deaths of soldiers and civilians. The damage to property was immense in the South, where almost all of the war was fought. Yet, after the Confederacy was beaten, the United States imposed very few legal penalties against the people who led and fought for the Confederacy. There was considerable concern that putting the Confederates on trial would greatly hinder reunification.

Yet, today, following the ‘insurrection of January 6^th, we see so many on the left who want to lock up those I call the Capitol kerfufflers for years upon years, for an uncoordinated demonstration in which nobody who was not one of the kerfufflers was killed, and which lasted only a few hours. As an ‘insurrection,’ it makes the Beer Hall Putsch seem like a masterpiece of planning and execution. Elie Mystal of The Nation wanted all of the kerfufflers rounded up and arrested, and was incensed that some were released on bail. Federal prosecutors have been arguing, and in a few cases succeeding, for keeping some of the Putsch leaders in jail, held without bail, even though some accused murderers are allowed to go free on bond. Elwood Dowd wants them all locked up, while Brad Bannon, a Democratic pollster writing in The Hill says that a meaningful investigation “will resurrect democracy.”

Yet somehow, some way, the left are united in their resistance of post election audits, in a race in which millions of people believe that massive fraud occurred. If the left believe that the election was almost completely clean and above board, why would they disapprove of an audit to prove such?

The left, in their all-consuming hatred of Donald Trump, want to treat something about as serious as a keg party which got out of control more harshly than the United States treated the leaders of the Confederacy! All that this can do is further anger the people who supported President Trump and slow any reconciliation between Republicans and Democrats.

Not that all Democrats want such reconciliation in the first place!

The best thing that President Biden could do, now, is to simply issue a blanket amnesty for the kerfufflers. If he does not, the next President – and may he be a Republican elected on November 5, 2024 – should pardon everyone accused, indicted, tried or convicted in the incident!