Within weeks of the end of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee was indicted by a Federal court for treason. The possibility of a treason trial weighed so heavily on Lee that he even appealed to Ulysses S. Grant to have the indictment quashed. But was he, even technically, guilty as charged? The notion of Lee being convicted as a traitor seems impossible from our perspective; but how likely was it in 1865? Presented by Allen Carl Guelzo, PhD, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College.
