"I'll have to look into how to do that when I get home." A way of earning himself some goodwill from his friends in the North is definitely a good thing to look into.

"But they did exist and history already speaks of it. Isn't that enough?" He did so many terrible things under orders. There was no malice or ill intent to it - he was simply doing as he was told. That is what makes it so difficult to speak of.