I just heard part of this quote of Robert E Lee's in the Ken Burns Civil War documentary, from right before the Civil War started (Source) (emphasis mine):

The South, in my opinion, has been aggrieved by the acts of the North, as you say. I feel the aggression, and am willing to take every proper step for redress. It is the principle I contend for, not individual or private benefit. As an American citizen, I take great pride in my country, her prosperity and institutions, and would defend any State if her rights were invaded.

But I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation. I hope, therefore, that all constitutional means will be exhausted before there is a resort to force. Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It was intended for “perpetual union,” so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession.

It got me thinking: was this guy's heart in the fight? Everything I've heard about him sounds like he was a reluctant warrior for the South to begin with and quick to reconcile when he was defeated. It does seem that he led the Army of Northern Virginia well enough to still be venerated, but I am having difficulty reconciling why someone would give up so much to command soldiers to die in a fight they didn't believe in.