"Twelve days later, an actor named John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln. Davis and his cabinet had just arrived in Charlotte when he heard the news. Davis responded, “I certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln; but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather have heard than this. I fear it will be disastrous for our people and I regret it deeply.” "

Was Jefferson Davis guilty or innocent of treason? This question was never answered in a court of law because the U.S. Govt. feared the possibility that Davis would be vindicated if tried for treason and that secession would be found to have been a constitutional right of the States.