I certainly agree with all of that. And yeah, it's disgusting how Lee got retconned into being a hero. I did an essay on Lee, at my teacher's suggestion, in 1st or 2nd grade. And that essay, echoing the single library book I read, said "Lee was on the wrong side, but only because he was such a patriot of his state. It shows you can be wrong and still be a hero". Want to hear a truly mind-boggling fact? Writing this essay did not teach me that the Civil War was over slavery. No, I learned that it was about whether or not states could secede from the union. At least I learned the word 'secede', eh?
And I grew up in Colorado, not the deep south.