Lincoln was a forgiving man at the end of the Civil War. He wanted a peaceful and compassionate Reconstruction.
He ordered the pardon of Robert E Lee which was completed after his death, so Lee, instead of being in prison, became a college professor.
Lincoln sent a secret message to Jefferson Davis to exile himself from the US and they then won’t come after him. Davis stupidly refused, but only did some prison time and then spent the rest of his life in a peaceful plantation.
I have always wondered about this.
Lincoln may have been "forgiving" but his biggest problem had they pursued treason charges against leading Confederates and tried them could have been that they may have been found not guilty because seccession was very likely provably legal at the time they did it......in which case what Lincoln and the Feds did was not. What a huge cluster that would have been.
