[lentulusgracchus]

in your above reply you accused Farragut and others of remaining with the Union solely for promotion, when, in fact, all these men could have received equivilent or higher positions down south,

If you'd read the rest of my reply before teeing me up, you'd see that I also contemplated the possibility that they remained in the Union service, because their own construction of the secession issue, viz. their personal political opinions, led them away from that duty to their neighbors that Lee exalted over his own political opinion. Lee was mistaken in his opinion of the States' rights to secede, but he wasn't so bullheaded as to allow his opinion, no matter how firmly held, to lead him to a clash of arms with his Virginia countrymen.

And, for the record, I don't have a marble saint. I've just expended quite a few electrons back up the thread (maybe you skipped those posts) agreeing with WP that Lee had serious weaknesses as a commander and as chief military advisor to Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government.

[Non-Sequitur]

I have read all of your replies, and like the rest none of your replies have ever allowed for the fact that they may have seen that their duty lay with their country and not their state and politics be damned. You speak of honor and loyalty regarding Lee, well maybe their honor demanded the actions that they took. Not everyone holds state above country like you, but that does not make their motives suspect or their actions disreputable.