As a northner by birth I happen to admire Lee very much, he was man of his times, all that knew him admired him as well, and also do read his Dispatches, not a bio but revealing in small ways, he wasnt the communicative type, but during some battle he would find a few moments to enquire of the Mrs: : "you said you sent 18 socks but only 17 arrived please be more careful", or something to that effect. The socks were not meant for him of course but to be handed out to those in need, trivial perhaps but he was in the dire situation where 18 socks were important, and again he was not very communicative in the social respect so there is very slight record of his thoughts other than military. His military thoughts found in Dispatches are of the highest human order, supremely polite thoughtful and respectful,
His very first allegiance was to Virginia, that was #1 in his motivation. It was states rights back then let us not forget,
Was he on the wrong side of history? You bet, but a beautiful individual for his time, his graceful acceptance at Appomattox is heart wrenching as was Grants and indeed most of the AOP, in being respectful of the hard road they all had travelled, and he advocated to the south to let it go, its now over. I dont believe he would be in favor of any monuments for him, this became an 1890's thing. In summation I believe he was an amazing American of the highest order.