Here's another thing that should probably be pointed out. Although slavery was the "hot" emotional issue of the war...particularly in the North, which needed an emotional issue to motivate its civilians and fighting men...there was a much deeper and more fundamental issue underlying the War Between the States.

It was that the South had been steadily losing its political clout in Congress for generations, due to the following reasons: a) a much smaller population than the North b) much less heavy industry c) the declining importance of cotton and agriculture d) the lion's share of the big banks and big money was in the North.

So, the North was basically getting a stranglehold on financial and industrial control and dominating the political process at the same time. The South felt disenfranchised, just as the West presently feels disenfranchised in Canada...for much the same kind of reasons. These were the issues that would have eventually resulted in Southern secession whether or not the South had abolished slavery...and secession meant war.

The South fought a defensive war. They fought merely to survive as a separate entity. (Lee's one offensive foray, which led to Gettysburg, was simply an attempt to discourage the North into abandoning further war efforts against the Confederacy). The South didn't have enough men or industry to fight anything but a defensive war, and they had almost no navy, a crucial factor.

The North fought an offensive war. They weren't fighting just to survive, they were fighting to conquer the other side completely...which they did. Unconditional surrender was their credo, and they got it.

I've played historical military wargames most of my life, due to an interest in strategy and military history. The South had virtually no chance of winning or even surviving that war, because they were outnumbered in men, money, and material at a ratio of 4 or 5 to one. That they lasted as long as they did was mainly due to the absolute brilliance of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and a few other commanders, and to the very noteable skill and elan of their troops.

Ulysses S. Grant correctly deduced that he could grind Lee down in an unimaginative battle of attrition, and he eventually did just that. The US Navy tied down the South, crippled their economy, and allowed Federal forces to invade at many points, and to control the Mississippi. The Hunley's mission was one of various desperate attempts to oppose the naval blockade. Those attempts were brave but fruitless.

The ironclad Virginia (sometimes called Merrimac) made another such attempt...equally fruitless in the end.

The South would have been wise to have discontinued slavery prior to seceding, and to have freed the blacks. It would have given the North far less political ammunition to work with, and the cotton farmers could have hired freedmen, and would have. Unfortunately, this was not done. Southern men were proud and in many cases arrogant and cocksure...they were sure they could beat the Yankees on the field of battle. Well, they did beat them quite a few times, but time was not on their side.

The fact is, they didn't have a dog's chance in hell, no more than Hitler did when he simultaneously took on England, Russia, and the USA.

The Civil War and the defeat of the South were virtually inevitable...slavery or no slavery.