If it's historical, keep it accurate.
If it's fictional, do what you wish.
Either way, don't expect everyone to like what you are doing.
Especially with fictional skins it's easy to step into the side of bad taste.
In real life, people were not always in it for the bloody&gore and killing, they were doing what they thought what was necessary or what "must be done". Maybe misguided and mislead in that but not because they were more evil than people on the other side.
Stereotyping people as someone who enjoy "evil things" is not appreciated despite whatever the intentions were.