re: If Confederate generals were traitors, so was George Washington

One more upvote.
Federal power versus State’s Rights was a huge issue way before the Civil War. Learned men during those times, free thinkers who believed in liberty, argued this issue and believed that their state had the right to secede.
Others said no, once in you were bound to stay in the union. You could not leave. Those men led the union and and carried the day through force of arms; thus it was settled.
Thankfully many of those same leaders did not see the leaders of the Confederacy as traitors and despite the hard feelings people came together and even fought together 50 years later in WWI.