Lee the snarky

Just when you think you have your historical icons pegged...they prove just how human they are.

While surfing through the Civil War blogs this morning, I came across the following Lee quote, from Don Hogan's Civil War Markers. Conventional wisdom is that Lee was humble and self-effacing about his own abilities, and willing to accept criticism from the public about his perceived failures. But what are we to make of this?

"We made a great mistake in the beginning of our

struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will

prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our

worst generals to command our armies, and all our

best generals to edit the newspapers."

Lee the snarky and sarcastic? How does that fit into the easy characterization of the "Marble Man"?