[lentulusgracchus]

The North fought because the south bombarded Fort Sumter and initiated the war.

You really expect us to believe there wasn't going to be a war at all, except that that happened?

Try another.

Jeff Davis misplayed his hand -- but Abe was playing for war, and playing for keeps. No way he wasn't going to get his war. Everything depended on war, for Abe.

Blame the South some more if you want -- you can't blink that.

[Non-Sequitur]

You really expect us to believe there wasn't going to be a war at all, except that that happened?

We'll never know for sure, because it did happen.

Jeff Davis misplayed his hand...

He did more than that. He knew that firing on Sumter would mean war. Any fool could see that, his cabinet warned him of it, and yet he went ahead anyway. Why would he do that unless he wanted the war that would follow?

[capitan_refugio]

"You really expect us to believe there wasn't going to be a war at all, except that that happened?"

War was certainly going to happen; Lincoln wasn't going to start it. At the very least, civil war would have broken out in the Unionist areas of the South, who wanted nothing to do with Jeff Davis and his bastard republic.