I enjoyed most of your article, but I have to disagree on your point from a historical perspective. While I do not hold Lee up as a hero either, this is an oversimplification. That is not how most Americans thought back then on both sides. Home towns, and states were people’s families. Much of the country lived by Kith and kin. It would be like an American president such as Trump asking a general today to bomb their hometown because that president labeled the town traitors. Most would refuse.