He was fighting the war that the Confederacy had started.
You are evading the question. Nobody fights for the sake of fighting. Well, maybe the Scots and the Irish, but no SANE person fights just for the sake of fighting.
Why was Irwin McDowell sent to Richmond? Was he delivering to them the Emancipation Proclamation? Was that his instructions?
How about some honesty here?
I say he was going to Richmond to stop the Independence movement, and had no orders or intentions of doing anything at all about Slavery.
I'd like to get an honest answer from you and the rest.