I applaud Neal's method and persistence. My own view, being trained as a historian, is to make it into a teaching monument, with a plaque and audio component, mentioning that Lee was against monuments to the Confederacy, and that the people who put it up were very much in favor of the Confederacy. That he freed his slaves as soon as he was out of debt, a debt created by his father-in-law, not him. He fought for the wrong side, but his quality as a general was second to none. That after the war, he did all he could to end the Confederacy in any manner, and respect and honor the Union. Not all Southern Generals did.

Perhaps a lot of this is trying to place people in their own times not ours, with our different standards and views.