Yes, I would agree. From King George’s perspective they were traitors. But the differences import differences were 1) that the American revolutionaries won the war and not lost, and 2) that the values they were fighting for were positive—creation of democracy, equality for all (in principle if not practice) and freedom from authoritarian rule, whereas the Southerners were fight FOR their own freedom like the colonists (true) but also fighting for what I call negative values: slavery and inequality.