What if Lee had be executed?

I was reading through this Biography of Robert E. Lee ( http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttour/sidebar/leebio.htm ) and a bit near the end interested me. I'll quote it:

"It was a bleak time for the general. Branded a traitor by many who wished to see him imprisoned and hanged..."

Seeing this got me wondering. What would the relationship between north and south had been if the Union had executed General Lee? How much harm would executing Lee have done?

And, perhaps quite importantly, how would the Europeans have looked on the Union if Lee had been executed?
 
It would have just created a martyr. Martyrdom adds tremendously to any sort of 'Lost Cause' ideas. It is a sort of celebrity stardom and creates myths.

The other possibility, along the lines of Jefferson Davis being on trial, is that things could go horribly wrong for the prosecution. One only has to think about even Goering's defense at the Nuremberg Trials. Davis was purportedly going to be tried by jury, but the Federal Government just later released him.
 
In OTL Ulysses Grant threatened to resign in protest when the Johnson administration considered arresting Lee. Just that would have grossly violated the surrender terms, let alone executing Lee.

I don't think Grant was bluffing, and executing Lee would have caused protests in the North and South. I'd expect a lot more former Confederates to flee the country and for the original KKK to use the execution for propaganda purposes and end up being stronger and nastier than in OTL.
 
Top