If he wanted to admire a Civil War general, he should have used Lee, but unfortunately that wouldn't be PC for those masses who don't really know anything about Lee except that he was from the South. For example, Lee was publicly against slavery and didn't own slaves, as opposed to Grant and his wife, and started freeing the slaves of a whole plantation as soon as he inherited it. And as far as I know all of his armed conflicts were carried through with honor.
Thomas J. Jackson even taught slaves to read -- which was illegal throughout much of the South (though I admit I don't know if it was in Virginia).
The Civil War was full of oddities like that. I guess that's why so many of us like to argue about it.