or gone to any public school in the US...
now I am a little confused. Referring to how he discussed in history everywhere in the U.S.?
He was an excellent General, he simply chose to agree with the Confederacy's aims to fight for independence from the U.S. Federal governance.
Similarly, Erwin Rommel is one of my favorite military leaders of all time. Was on the wrong side of the war, but he did his duty, and shrugged off some aspects of his duty, because he did have the military bearing to still honor his country regardless of some of it's interior decisions. He also was arguably the most professional General (Field Marshall) Germany ever had during WW2. It also helped he was extremely gifted in leadership and lead some amazing efforts to get the job done, or try to get the job done.
You can be a great leader, but the US had some excellent leadership as well, and numbers can help too. He won some, he lost some. That's war, even the best lose to sometimes those who are far less worthy of being an high command officer.