“...Lee was a fine honorable American.”
1) Lee was an honorable man, but the word ‘honor’ expressed a different concept than it does today.
2) Lee considered himself a Virginian before American.
When he took his oath as an officer? When he was fighting in the Mexican War? When he was head of West Point?
I can have some sympathy for the difficult choice Lee had to make, but his decision was a questionable one for someone who didn't really believe in secession.
Maybe the fact that so many members of his family opted for secession and the Confederate forces influenced him.