Nonsense as one of the first acts of the CSA was to send a committee to settle such issues as Fort Sumter with the north.
Lincoln would not meet with them or allow anyone in his government to meet with them and then Lincoln send out a merchant ship to resupply a fort that was completely surrounded with southern cannons in a southern harbor.
Lincoln provoked the attack not the south.
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It's an old rouse of history for the wolf to complain to the lamb.
After SC seceded from the Union it fired on Ft. Sumter twice. First while Jas. Buchanan was still Potus and once more after Lincoln had taken the oath. So it strikes home here and everywhere else except to American Conservatives that the CSA started the Civil War twice. And that it took hold on the second try.
Our starting point might be to recall SC seceded in December 1860.
However, in November Potus Buchanan had sent a new commanding officer to the 150 Union harbor garrison, Major Rbt. Anderson. The day after Christmas the seceded government of SC ordered Major Anderson to abandon Ft. Sumter (which had been built in 1812). Anderson may have said 'nuts' or something like it. Regardless and for sure Anderson refused.
Because Major Anderson needed supplies Potus Buchanan sent a merchant ship full of provisions. SC militia fired cannon at the ship to force it back out to sea. Nobody seemed to mind very much, if at all. Save for the hungry and thirsty Union garrison inside the fort.
After Potus Lincoln was inaugurated March 4th he wuz informed of the predicament at Ft. Sumter. Facing his first test as Potus/CinC, Lincoln ordered several ships of USN to deliver provisions and supplies. SC was meanwhile demanding daily that Maj. Anderson surrender and leave town. The major pointed to the Union flag over Ft. Sumter.
Bombardment of Fort Sumter, as depicted in a lithograph by Currier and Ives. Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
In the hours before dawn April 12, 1861 South Carolina militia opened a bombardment of Ft. Sumter. A serious bombardment. SC militia cannon were positioned at several points along the harbor to hit Sumter on its soft landward side as the post had been built to defend against attack from the sea and outer harbor. After dawn Union cannon returned fire. It went on for two dayze and nights interrupted by some rain.
Maj. Anderson had not had communication contact with the Union for several weeks. After two dayze with fires burning inside the fort, walls damaged and no supplies or munitions Major Anderson ran up the white flag. USN warships on standby and at some distance outside Charleston entered the harbor under the terms of surrender agreed by Maj. Anderson to collect the major and the garrison to sail back to New York. Neither side had sustained combat injuries.
Major Anderson and his garrison onboard the USN ships were welcomed to the city by a crowd the NYT estimated at 100,000. Soon after the major toured Union states recruiting men to arms. South Carolina was hailed by CSA for its bravery and initiative as CSA also went out recruiting new soldiers and sailors.
CSA had fired the first gun(s). The war was on. The wolf licked its chops.
American Conservatives of the vanquished CSA have since written their own history. It can be found in the fiction section of your local library. Or as statues and monuments in your local public park. Less so and less so in each instance however.
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