On this whole "why we fought the war" thing....

The Confederates were literate and educated folks and took pains to clearly elucidate exactly WHY they did what they did, in their own words, based upon reality as they experienced it.

First off there's Confed Veep's Alexander Stephen's "Cornerstone Speech" in which he clearly and carefully states that slavery was both the rock upon which the Confederate Constitution rested and the cause of secession in the first place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech

Then there's five Confederate States' (collectively containing around 65% of the Southern Population) "Declaration of Causes of Secession" in which they spelled out their reasons for taking this momentous step.

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/declarationofcauses.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

Slavery front and center in all of 'em.

Like I said, it ain't me saying this, it was THEM.

Bend, twist, recast, rephrase it all ya want.

Birdwatcher

"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744