Oh, we are quoting Robert E Lee? 

"As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated, my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the country would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment, and of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour..."

Or

"I think it wiser moreover not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered..."

Both written by Robert E Lee. The man was a traitor but he knew that once defeated the erasure of the Confederate "way of life" was for the best.