I give Lincoln the same credit for starting the civil war that I'd give him for freeing the slaves in the slave states and, later, for pushing the 13th amendment through. In all three cases he was in charge of leading the country through a tough spot. My point was that history is well spun to say that Lincoln saved the country (which he did, by the way) but ignores that he was in charge when it all went to crap. I contend that he had a number of chances to prevent the war but failed to control the politics. I'd also say that by failing to properly recruit (or detain) Lee he certainly lengthened the war considerably. And by leaving a trail of failed military commanders in charge he cost a lot of lives. -XC PS - Just in case it's not clear, I'm not suggesting that the dang fools in charge of the south weren't wrong to own slaves, attempt to secede, and then fight on in a losing cause.