Fort Monroe has a rather complicated relationship with Jefferson Davis. His imprisonment seems to have been primarily a case of the victorious Union thinking, well, we have to do something to the guy (he had run when Federal troops were on their way to Richmond in 1865, and was captured in Georgia...whereas Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, and was treated with the respect and dignity that he deserved), but after his first few months of harsh confinement they essentially gave him a comfy place to live with his family. Davis was allowed to walk the grounds of Fort Monroe during daylight hours, and after two years he was released on $100,000 bail without ever having gone to trial. Being in the south as Fort Monroe is, the locals naturally enough had their way with US Army attitudes towards Davis, which resulted in monuments such as the Jefferson Davis Memorial Park. Which is pretty much that sign and that nice gutter and some nice grass.