“Well no they didn’t (offer to negotiate all issues with the United States in an attempt to preserve the peace) but that is neither here nor there.”
I hesitate to disagree with friends, but in this case I respectfully disagree. The Confederate Congress did make the offer and sent representatives to negotiate all issues; and it is “here nor there.”
Lincoln could not have known for sure his decision would cost 600,000 lives, or more, but he knew his decision to go to war would cost plenty.
The result was the disaster at Appomattox and the federal government we have in the D.C. swamp now. I know many people are happy with the federal government and the way it works. I’m not.
But is that what the Confederates did? The only specific in the letter to Lincoln was that they were there to demand recognition from the Administration. Following that there was a vague offer to "agree, treat, consult, and negotiate of and concerning all matters and subjects interesting to both nations..." How do we know that paying for stolen property was interesting to the Confederacy?