What were Robert E. Lee's views on the Civil War?

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 - October 12, 1870) was an American and Confederate soldier, best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until its surrender in 1865.

Before the war, Lee held two somewhat different ideas about slavery in his mind at the same time. He conceded that slavery "was a moral and political evil in any country," but also believed that slavery was ordained by God, and was part of the necessary historical development of African Americans.