“But the fact is that Lee, like Thomas, had a choice, and had he chosen differently results could well have been a shorter war with far fewer Virginians killed.”
You do not understand Lee. He had no choice but to support Virginia.
“Today Lee is idolized beyond his merit”
His fellow Virginians didn’t agree with you then, and don’t now.
Your problem in understanding Lee is that you place modern standards on 19th century men. You do not discern that a man like Lee could be place loyalty to Virginia above “United States” which by definition had become dis-united.
The modern version of the United States did not exist then.
In fact, the 10th Amendment’s unconstitutional decline was expressly part of the resolution of the Civil War - and his has been degraded ever since then.
In Lee’s time, loyalty to ones state was not unusual. You do not seem to understand that - and that’s the same mistake others make when they make outrageous claims about Lee.
Your position on “Lee’s choice” is absurd. Men died for their state with honor then.
According to your approach, in a couple hundred years we’ll be seen as traitorous scum because if we did not heartily embrace a “United Nations” as our guiding light. Think that couldn’t happen?
FRiend, you have it all wrong -- it's you who do not understand your own history.
The facts are that for every five Virginians who served the Confederacy (about 120,000 total), two served the Union Army (50,000 total).
Virginia's Union general officers included not only George Thomas, but Admiral Farragut and General Winfield Scott -- over a dozen in total.
So any suggestion that all Virginians automatically chose their state over their nation is just cockamamie nonsense.
Yes, it's true: more Virginians chose the Confederacy over the Union, and those 30% who did chose the Union came heavily from low slave-holding areas of the state, such as Western Virginia.
But George Thomas himself came from Southern Virginia, doubtless high slave area, and yet still chose his country over his state, despite his family's disapproval.
So Lee and other famous Virginia officers -- i.e., Jackson, Stuart, Johnson, Hill, Ewell, Early, Pickett, etc. -- all made their choice, all could have chosen differently (as did 40% of all Virginia pre-war officers), and had they chosen differently, the results would surely have been a far shorter war, with far fewer than the 33,000 Virginia soldiers killed.
Lee's choice, along with other Virginia officers, was the worst possible for Virginians themselves, FRiend.
RFEngineer: "The modern version of the United States did not exist then."
Oh, sorry FRiend, but it certainly did.
That's why 30% of Virginia's soldiers and 40% of it's pre-war officers served the Union.
RFEngineer: "In fact, the 10th Amendment’s unconstitutional decline was expressly part of the resolution of the Civil War - and his has been degraded ever since then."
All blame -- 100% of it -- for all Civil War related "degradation" goes squarely on the shoulders of those who started the war, and number one in line is: Jefferson Davis.
RFEngineer: "In Lee’s time, loyalty to ones state was not unusual.
You do not seem to understand that - and that’s the same mistake others make when they make outrageous claims about Lee."
Again, it's you are utterly confused & disoriented.
You look facts straight in the face, and still deny them, because they don't fit what you believe.
The fact is that many Virginians considered the nation a higher value than their slave-owning state's secession.
Lee himself abhorred secession, and was willing to sacrifice slavery itself to save the Union, if that could be done peacefully.
Now we don't know what all conversations went on, but one is highly tempted to think that had those been more skillfully negotiated, perhaps a deal could be worked out, and Civil War, if not averted, shortened & minimized.
Again I say: Lee chose poorly, and Virginians suffered the most.