Robert E. Lee had to make a decision in 1861. Defend the Constitution or defend the Union? He made the correct decision to defend the Constitution. This makes him an American hero. 

America was founded as a Constitutional Federal Republic composed of a Limited Federal Government and Sovereign States. In 1861 the Federal Government of America was taken over by New England socialists, zealots, fanatics, and hypocrites who were driven by greed. They had a blatant disregard for the Constitution when it stood in the way of profit and power.

Lee stated in 1866 "All the South has ever desired was that the union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved; and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth."

Campaigns all across America have resulted in removing or suppressing Confederate symbols. The Confederacy has been the victim of one of America's most successful smear campaigns. Certainly, part is due to the old truism "the victors write the history" and much is due to heightened racial sensitivities in our current era, in which the Confederacy, which lasted 4 years, is seen as the principal villain in North American slavery, an institution which lasted more than 200 years in both North and South.