Again, it comes down to precedent — every western nation, besides the United States, found a political solution to the slavery problem, rather than a military one. Now, you might assert that our politicians just weren’t as good as theirs, and that there was no peaceful solution, but that just doesn’t seem to resonate with truth. In that analysis, it’s obvious that Confederate soldiers didn’t need to die in order to free the slaves, and that their cause was not nearly as singular as we have rewritten history to show.
I think the most reasonable interpretation, for both sides, is that they had people of good faith, and people of bad faith, and that there were in fact various drivers and causes for the Civil War, slavery being one of the major ones, but not the only one. And in that interpretation, someone like Robert E. Lee, who chose a path of surrender and reconciliation rather than a protracted guerrilla war, at the very least deserves a place of honor for his work after the South lost.
So a hero? Perhaps not. An important part of history, deserving of remembrance, reflection, and thought? Absolutely.
