[Even General Winfield Scott, who had many confrontations with William Harney over the years, respected his ability to make peace with the Indians. Scott predicted that this political move by the Blair family would cost the government 100,000 lives and $100 million dollars in military equipment. Later President Lincoln was to agree, when he told Montgomery Blair, "The removal of General Harney was one of the greatest mistakes of my administration."]
The illegal activities of the privileged few are never justified when they go against the will of the electorate, no matter the outcome; the ends do not justify the means. The duly elected representatives of the people chose not to secede, and to let the will of the people decide the fate of our state. In turn they elected a group of men to hold a convention to decide the issue. The convention was decidedly in favor of the state remaining in the Union. Subsequently, an agreement was reached with the proper "legal authority", ie Gen. Harney. A handful of unelected powerful individuals decided that was not to "their" best interest and utilized their "private" influence to bring about change more to their liking. And later, with the benefit of hindsight, our President admitted that it was a mistake.
This is not revisionist history.