Agreed, as another comment I've written states. The context of how it's torn down is the main issue, rather than necessitating eternal statues.
don't see a good reason for statues of confederate generals
Well the general in question was a great man, he was one of the greatest generals at the time who happened to be fighting on the losing side, and he didn't even want the secession to happen, he was on the North's side, regarding slavery, and though it was horrible (not like we do, but very progressive for the time) but he felt the need to fight for his home state.
The point is these statues are of people who did great, notable, progressive things, but those things are ignored because of something else that these people consider bad now which to them, completely overrides anything good they did.
It would be like tearing down a statue of Obama 100 years from now because he ate chicken, and in the future everybody is a vegetarian and meat eaters are scum. Never mind all the great things he might have done.
Well, I honestly don't know what the case with his personal qualities actually is, but I am also sure there are people that revere him for the "wrong" reasons too. Still, that's an evaluation I'm simply not qualified to make, so I'll keep what you've said here in mind when continuing to think about this issue.