because they were american citizens before and after the war? robert e lee served in the US army for over 30 years before the civil war and wasn't happy about the division or the war. he probably would have sided with the union if it wasn't for the fact that his home state joined the confederacy
They were American citizens
before, yes, but technically afterward they remained territories until they formed governments and ratified the 14
th Amendment before they could be re-admitted into the Union; additionally, there were other provisions which sought to limit the rights of ex-pats through the Wade-Davis Bill and through Ironclad Oaths. But I digress.
In what form, also, does those who fought on the side of the Confederates or supported them make them
American heroes? Most Confederates themselves saw themselves to reject the idea that they were countrymen along with the Union, and had chosen to take up a new national identity.
Additionally, he sided with the Confederates because he had a "devout Christian conviction" that slavery was good for the black man. In his words,
[. . .]that unless some humane course is adopted, based on wisdom and Christian principles you do a gross wrong and injustice to the whole Bro race in setting them free. And it is only this consideration that has led the wisdom, intelligence and Christianity of the South to support and defend the institution up to this time.
Frederick Douglass's admonition for this mentality was reflected perfectly in the following:
between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference.
He was even
known to enslave previously free black men from the North as a part of this so-called providence among many other atrocities committed against prisoners of war. Some historians point to this cruelty, "
[. . .]historian Richard Slotkin wrote in No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, “his silence was permissive.”" as his personal enjoyment of war. His allegiances were not political or defined by boundaries; but by his twisted code of ethics.
