[x]

Lee should have been hanged. It was all the worse that he was a man of fine character and acted conscientiously. It's always the good men who do the most harm in the world. -- Henry Adams

Lee's reputation certainly was a triumph of good manners. If Lee had been cruder or ruder with less of the aura of saintly forbearance about him, he'd have been judged much more harshly by posterity. As it is, he's judged more on his presumed character than on the decisions he made and their effects. And the halo around Lee also influences how his subordinates, like Stonewall Jackson, are viewed.

[Texas Fossil]

If Lee had been cruder or ruder with less of the aura of saintly forbearance about him

Like the "drunk" U.S. Grant? Or "madman" Sherman?

[Emperor Palpatine]

“Stonewall Jackson would have a man shot at the drop of a hat....and he’d drop the hat himself!”

-Private Sam Watkins, Co. H 1st Tennessee.

[mrsmith]

He was much like George Washington. His character a deliberate outcome of the code he praticed. Not surprising considering his pedigree.