Courage gave us freedom.
War gives us death.
Sometimes armed resistance is the only way to oppose those who would use armed force to deprive us of our freedom. In such a principled fight, war is the unfortunate outcome. To choose it first is foolhardy and cruel.
History gives us many examples of courage and self-sacrifice which gave us freedom and yet didn't involve a war. There are many many more incidents of this which are too small to have made it into the big books.