Heroify

In writing about important historical figures, one must be careful not to heroify them.

What were the far-off natives of the Rocky Mountains doing that this restless, reckless, blood-thirsty, and cruel Frenchman should be permitted to kill them? [...] The vilest agents were permitted to employ the vilest means; and this French butcher finds among our first writers a man to heroify him and to set up his dastardly deeds as models for the young.