Paradox of the Lost Cause hero

Confederate Sen. Benjamin Harvey Hill described Robert E. Lee as: ... a foe without hate; a friend without treachery; a soldier without cruelty; a victor without oppression, and a victim without murmuring. He was a public officer without vices; a private citizen without wrong; a neighbor without reproach; a Christian without hypocrisy, and a man without guile. He was a Caesar, without his ambition; Frederick, without his tyranny; Napoleon, without his selfishness, and Washington, without his reward." --and yet he fought mightily to defend a government formed to preserve slavery. _______________________ To a recalcitrant student, who was contending for what he thought were his rights as a man, a professor once heard General Lee say: "Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character" –- this from the man who defied his lawful government