If you get a bit of time, I recommend the behind the bastards episode about Lee. It’s a recent episode so you won’t have to dig.
In his own letters he made it clear that it wasn’t about Virginia. He wanted to be revered in the new country on the way George Washington was to the US.
He wasn’t living in Virginia, he didn’t care about Virginia.
I mean, I could be wrong, but Robert Evans (the host) generally researches his topics thoroughly and I trust him.