Davis had to start the war or else cooler heads might have prevailed. Certainly VA and the others would not have joined the rebellion without the attack on Fort Sumter.
On a side not calling it the civil war is not correct. The official U.S. Army term is the war of rebellion which is much more accurate in my opinion.
So what if they did? How would it affect the independence of those seceded states? It would have secured it. Davis' own adviser cautioned him against it. Doing nothing would have better played into his hands than what he ended up doing.
Certainly VA and the others would not have joined the rebellion without the attack on Fort Sumter.
Virginia was content to remain in the Union while the other states seceded until they recognized that the Union was going to go to war with the seceded states. Lincoln was going to give up Fort Sumter if Virginia agreed to stay in the Union, which makes Lincoln's position like the old joke. "We've already figured out what kind of girl you are, now we are just haggling over the price."
Given that Virginia was the home of Washington and Jefferson, it's a fair bet that they understood the right of states to leave the Union.
On a side not calling it the civil war is not correct.
No it isn't. It is more accurately described as the Second American war of Independence.
The official U.S. Army term is the war of rebellion which is much more accurate in my opinion.
The US Army does what it's commander in chief tells it to do. It doesn't have an honest opinion of it's own, it is merely a ventriloquist dummy for whatever the President says.
It is a weapon, not a philosopher.