I have seen quite a fee people on social media recently calling Robert E. Lee a traitor. While I agree with this accusation, I wonder if others follow their logic through.
If Lee is a traitor, then so is Washington. Lee betrayed his country (the US) and Washington betrayed his (Great Britain). Both men put aside their military uniforms of the country they had sworn an allegiance to defend and instead took up arms against their country, killing men that wore the uniform they once wore.
If anything, Washington is one-step further a traitor than Lee, if only because he formally aligned himself with France, a most shocking and backstabbing move, France being the enemy above all enemies to Great Britain at the time.
Perhaps the best thing to do is simply refrain from calling men like Lee and Washington traitors, especially since these men were, in all honesty, distinguished men of honor, and far greater men than any of us could hope to be in our lifetimes.
