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The revisionist evaluation of historical figures using contemporary standards is appalling - and far too many people lack sufficient historical knowledge to evaluate a complex figure like Lee in historical context.

Lee was called a traitor at the time and he was a traitor.

What is amazing and unique about the American experience of insurrection and rebellion is that the losers could get such favorable treatment for such inexcusable actions.

Walt

The United States was constitutionally created as a confederation of states, with a weak central government. That it has evolved into something different since the conclusion of the Civil War is irrelevant to the historical analysis. Lee, along with the rest of the South, believed that states reserved the right of secession. The conflict that Lee fought settled the matter of state versus national primacy. It is not fair to condemn him for his actions before the matter was settled.

>>"What is amazing and unique about the American experience of insurrection and rebellion is that the losers could get such favorable treatment for such inexcusable actions."

Sherman wanted a hard war and a soft peace. He got what he wanted. Because of that, we are one nation that we are today. If the North did what most wanted to, enslave the South for generations, we would have been in s situation such as Germany after WWI and the war would not have ended so well. The America that we have today is because of great men then who made wise decisions (not all the time.)
God was truely watching over us.

We could use some of that wisdom today.

What is amazing and unique about the American experience of insurrection and rebellion is that the losers could get such favorable treatment for such inexcusable actions.

I guess that depends on what you consider inexcusable. The colluding of the industrial northern states to destroy the economy of the agrarian southern states was contemptible if not inexcusable. When the southern states found that their constitutional state sovereignty was being eroded and the balance of the congress was becoming stacked against them to their detriment, they decided the only course of action that left them the sovereignty and representation that they had fought in 1776 to obtain was to secede.

You call Lee a traitor because the south lost. If a few key battles in the 1770's had turned out slightly differently, you would be referring to George Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, etc as traitors and Benedict Arnold as a hero.

If the south had won, the USA and CSA would probably be strong allies today (like the USA and Britain) and would also probably still be the "superpowers" that the USA is. Slavery would still have been abolished, though probably a generation later than it was, and racial relations would probably have improved more quickly than they did with southerners acting out of civility rather than having Washington dictate policies to them. (just my humble opinions)

"What is amazing and unique about the American experience of insurrection and rebellion is that the losers could get such favorable treatment for such inexcusable actions."

I suppose you would rail against the statement, "With malice towards none and charity for all..."

Lee and the rest of the Confederates were graciously welcomed back into the fold by the inspiration of the leader of the United States of America, President Abraham Lincoln. He understood something profound, that reconsiliation depended upon forgiveness...something you obviously cannot stomach. That is why, until the Black Race Baiters of the NAALCP started stirring things up a few years ago with meaningless rants against the Confederate Flag, the American Civil War had been unique in that on average, the North and South looked upon it with reverence as a shared heritage.

Now, thanks to folks like you, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the rest of the Black Race Baiters and their White Apologists, the healed wounds are not only being reopened after more than 140 years, but your vile urine is being spewed into it to cause a fatal infection in the body of our Blessed Nation.

I am a proud Yankee who has profound respect for the South as well as the North.

You are obviously an historical illiterate or a bigot. The reason that Davis, Lee and others were not tried for treason is because the law was on their side. States did and still do have the right to secede. The vindictive and inhumane treatment of southerners after the war is well documented. If northerners could have done it they would have. By the way I have never lived in the south, I was born on Lincoln's birthday, and I have reached these conclusions by studying history, the civil war being of particular interest. This has led me to conclude that Slavery is wrong but the South was right. Maybe if you pulled your head out and looked at some things like the activities of the northern financiers of the multiple serial murderer John Brown. You might come to the conclusion that Robert E. Lee may not have been such a bad fellow after all. Especially since he didn't own slaves, but that U.S. Grant did.