Can't edit, but I say all the foregoing as a child who was a massive Civil War buff, and a "fan of the Confederacy," based mostly on regional bias and being 8 or 9. I do not remember anyone, which seemingly would have been my parents, nudging me in that direction. But, I distinctly remember my parents reminding me that ultimately, the Confederacy was on the wrong side. I was too young to be a racist, and my parents did nothing to encourage me to be one.
Later in life, I don't recall being fed anything historically inaccurate about secession or the cause of the Civil War, even in a great white ISD.
But the whole lost cause mythology was there, omnipresent even at UT. Offering up historical complexities like states' rights, the role of the federal government, and the loyalties of US military officers to their states rather than their country/federal government. That stuff is all fine as far as it goes for a deep dive biography or an upper-division history class.
But the fact that Confederate apologism worked its way into everyday discussion of the Civil War even among the uneducated is a testament to how effective a propaganda tool it was. And still is.
I'm not a huge fan of bandying about traitor/treason regarding today's public enemies as I think it often overstates a case that is bad enough. But it absolutely applies to Confederate government officials and military officers.
Jefferson Davis, traitor. R.E. Lee, traitor. Stonewall Jackson, traitor. Nathan Bedford Forrest, traitor and virulent racist. Hood, Bragg, traitors.
Simkins, traitor. Littlefield, traitor.
There's no way around it.