The same question could be asked of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock, in 1777, was it worth it?

At that time they were losing their war for independence and certainly must have been questioning whether their sacrific would be worth it? The only difference between that and the Southern defeat was that George Washington's enemy was 3,000 miles away in England and lost heart because of the cost of sending armies by ships to fight that war. The south enemy was right beside them.

In my opinion had the south won their Independence, to the southern people they too would have felt their sacrifices were worth it.