It Is A Good Question.

[AFTT47]

Lee was never a Southern patriot. He was not a proponent of session. He wanted the Union to stay intact. When the South seceded he went with it because Virginia went with it. He was a Virginian first and foremost.

Right or wrong, it's my country (or state, in Lee's case). I despise that line of thinking. Patriotism is fine, up to a point. When you start compromising your own principles because of it, you have ceased to be a thinking individual. You are nothing but a puppet on a string.