Confederate Soldiers Were Considered Traitors Under the Constitution

Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were Civil War generals who resigned from their federal positions and took up arms against the country on behalf of the Confederacy. There are a few who believe that at the time, allegiance to one’s state was more important than allegiance to one’s country; but back then both generals were considered traitors under the U.S. Constitution's definition of treason. 

Robert E. Lee was indicted by a grand jury at the end of the war. One newspaper at the time read, “If any man in the United States—that is, any rebel or traitor—should suffer the severest punishment, Robert E. Lee Should be the man.” Before the Civil War, Lee had a strong military record, and Abraham Lincoln even offered him a position of command in the Union Army. When Lee resigned, he broke his oath of service. He joined the rebels in Virginia, and led soldiers against American citizens.

States' rights were a key issue, but the fundamental cause of the Civil War was the fight for political and economic control of slavery. While both Lee and Jackson were sometimes regarded as brilliant military tacticians, historians also believe that they are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, all to uphold the right to enslave what was estimated at the time to be 4 million people.

The topic has gone viral amidst ongoing debates about the removal of confederate monuments. Earlier this month, monuments depicting Jackson and Lee were taken down. These were the same monuments that inspired the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, which turned deadly after a car intentionally drove through a group of protesters.