He was unsuccessful - every court that reviewed his indictment upheld it. It was through the magnanimity of his former foes - Ulysses Grant and Salmon P. Chase - that the charges were dropped. Grant did not want to open old wounds.
It was only after he was assured of his freedom, and when he began holding court at Beauvoir with his admirers, that he started claiming that he had wanted to go to trial.
This was an obvious falsehood - he had fought his indictment in court for years rather than face trial. He did one thing, but said another.
You can believe any fairly tale you want. Civil War “History” as it is POPULARLY understood is so much reconstructed BS to make an unjust war waged by Northern Industrial forces against a tariff hating South palpable to the masses. I cant blame you - for the truth is hard to take.
Yes, he did one thing and said another.
That is why his two post war books should be classified as fiction - alternative history.