Tom Woods' "Politically Incorrect Guide to American History" has got some traction.

A relevant quotation from a review of the book by the Mises Institute:

The Civil War—as [Woods] points out, [was] not a genuine civil war since the South did not wish to replace the national government—was not fought to end slavery: Lincoln rather aimed to consolidate national power. In opposing Lincoln’s dictatorship, the South defended the cause of liberty, a fact that was not lost on the great classical liberal Lord Acton. In a letter of 1866 to Robert E. Lee, Acton said that he 'saw in States’ rights the only availing check upon the absolutism of the sovereign will, and secession filled me with hope, not as the destruction but as the redemption of Democracy' (p. 74).

Yes, it would have been a trial on the legality of succession, and not a question the north wanted answered. If he was found innocent that would have meant they just spent the last 4 years killing people and ravaging the South without any legal justification.

Interestingly, after he was held without bail for 2 years, a bunch of prominent Northern businessmen pooled their money to bail him out; people who didn't share any of his beliefs but felt that he was being denied due process and that was wrong. I have often said that in the past we were a more principled people, and that sort of thing demonstrates it.

Anarchist.