CHARLES O'CONOR

This New York City lawyer worked without pay for two years to free Jefferson Davis from prison. His legal strategy, had Davis gone to trial, was to prove that the loss of 620,000 lives in the American Civil War was the fault of the United States, not the Confederacy.

CHIEF JUSTICE

SALMON CHASE

Chase met, in private, with Charles O’Conor to go over the legal strategy O’Conor would present in federal court in the case against Davis. Chase was convinced that bringing Davis to trial would prove secession was legal and Davis was innocent of treason.