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"No one would have predicted that a rational man would kill 620,000 people to impose his will."

You are speaking of Jefferson Davis & company, of course.

They could not have stopped the war with a word. The butcher's bill was under Lincoln's control, not under the control of anyone else.

DiogenesLamp: "They could not have stopped the war with a word.
The butcher's bill was under Lincoln's control, not under the control of anyone else. "

Nonsence.
The Confederacy could have asked for peace, and received it, at any time between their formal declaration of war against the United States, May 6, 1861, and their ultimate Unconditional Surrender on April 9, 1865.

I have mentioned before the Hampton Roads Conference, barely two months before ultimate Unconditional Surrender.
At Hampton Roads Confederates could have negotiated much better terms than they got, just two months later.

But Confederates refused to negotiate, continued fighting, lost thousands more killed & wounded, before surrendering with no serious terms whatever, resulting in:

Federal troops stationed throughout the Confederacy,
No compensation for slave-holders,
Jefferson Davis' capture & imprisonment, and
Three new Constitutional Amendments to free & protect civil rights of all former slaves.

Refusal to negotiate is prima facie evidence of Confederate President Davis' raving insanity.

So tell us why you can't grasp such simple facts.