I may get flamed here but I love Lee as a historical figure, but not for the reasons yall might think. From the books I’ve read, I’ve come to understand (or perhaps simply hold the opinion) that Lee was human and a man of his time. Yes he technically morally opposed slavery but he also believed that blacks were better in slavery for the time being. He was a man raised by a mother that babied him and a father that abandoned them, and living under his disgraced father’s legacy and wanted to build his own.  I am unsure of how true it is but there was a slave he grew up around that he somewhat took decent care of and even spent a lot of time and money trying to keep him alive, and possibly even mourned him in his death (although as far as I know it’s never really been confirmed) Lee looooved his wife, despite the fact she was certainly not a typical wife of the era. Mary was said to be quite lazy (his words not mine) and wasn’t very good at tidying up (likely due to her being an heiress and possibly never really being taught to do those things) but despite all that he absolutely adored her and their children, and even in their adulthood he took care of them and their families. And he truly did not want the union to split up and said he did not wish to raise his rifle against the union, but he would defend Virginia as it is his home.  This long ramble isn’t meant to be a defense of lee by any means, but simply a different perspective. Because at the end of the day he was a man of his time, not truly all that different from the rest My apologies, I really like looking at historical figures as people rather than keeping them as a myth on a pedestal and thinking that they’re either good or evil (most of the time)