Central_va: “ It’s only chance was to make it prohibitory expensive in blood and treasure to force the South back into the Union.
Lincoln, being the sublime butcher, there was no amount of blood deemed to to great to subdue the South. “
Actually, there was another way, that was to ask for peace and in the war’s early years they could have negotiated MUCH better terms than Unconditional Surrender.
But slave-holders preferred to fight on until there were no poor Southerners left to die for them.
I don’t think either side realized the can of worms they were opening. Lincoln never showed any sign of wanting to negotiate from minute one.