” Again, the case could be made that war was forced upon him. “
He wasn’t that weak willed. The drive for war was coming from Radical Republicans like Charles Sumner and Massachusetts Gov Andrew. They had been demanding war before Lincoln even took office, before Ft Sumter. Lincoln had some of them in his Cabinet. He made the bad decision of giving them what they had been demanding.
Pelham: "The drive for war was coming from Radical Republicans like Charles Sumner and Massachusetts Gov Andrew."
Again, I ask: how do you feel about Franklin Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941?
Did FDR "trick" the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor so Roosevelt could declare war and rescue Churchill in defeating the Nazis?
Does that make FDR "nefarious", deserving our undying hatred, and calls to refight WWII, this time making certain those "nefarious" Yankees get the lickin' they so richly deserve?
No, of course not, that's sheer insanity.
Whether FDR "tricked" the Japanese or not, their attack on Pearl Harbor was their own initiative, and was certainly an act of war, for which they bear responsibility for its consequences.
Likewise, after months of Confederate provocations for war, their attack on Fort Sumter was a clear act of war, for which they bear the responsibility.
And just to be certain nobody could misunderstand, just three weeks later, May 6, 1861, the Confederacy formally declared war on the United States, while sending military aid to pro-Confederates in Union Missouri.
All this happened before a single Confederate soldier was killed directly in battle with any Union force, and before any Union army invaded a single Confederate state.
Jefferson Davis could easily have avoided war by delaying his assault on Fort Sumter until such a time as the Confederacy was much better prepared to win it.
Indeed, at any time before April 9, 1865 Davis could have asked for peace on much better terms than "unconditional surrender", but consistently refused.
So 100% of responsibility for both starting and continuing Civil War belongs to Davis & Co.