[Non-Sequitur]

Let me begin by saying I don't give a damnn what the people of Florida choose to put on their license plates. I don't live there, I've never lived there, and I never plan on living there. Rebel flags, space shuttles, naked manatees, whatever. Makes absolutely no difference to me. However, I couldn't let your post go by unchallenged.

The North gave up to the South over a dozen of installations except for Ft. Pickens and Ft. Sumter. Why?

Most of what the south seized were unmanned. The exception was Texas, where the commanding general there ordered the troops to turn over facilities without approval of Washington. General Twiggs later became a confederate general, surprise, surprise. Sumter and Pickens had commanders who did their duty.

What did Lincoln promise the South about Ft. Sumter?

I give up. What did Lincoln promise the South about Fort Sumter?

How many Yankees were killed at Sumter and how? Did the firing upon Ft. Sumter really deserve a response to invade the entire South and begin a War that was responsible for the deaths of over a half million Americans?

Had the Japanese managed to bomb Pearl Harbor and sink all those ships yet not kill anyone would it have been any less a declaration of hostilities? The South bombarded Sumter for more than 24 hours, and had they killed every man in the process their actions would have been no more hostile than not killing anyone. The fact that nobody died is more a tribute to the fort and the poor marksmanship of the rebel artillery than any sense of altruism on the part of the Davis regime.

Why did Lincoln fire David Hunter and John C. Fremont early in the war?

It boiled down to refusal to obey the existing civil laws.

[vetvetdoug]

I am glad your rebuttal was for the CW response. I thought for a minute you were going to give a rebuttal about MLK's exemplary moral attributes and how he deserves a higher place in US history than does George Washington and Abraham Lincoln!!!

[rustbucket]

Most of what the south seized were unmanned. The exception was Texas, where the commanding general there ordered the troops to turn over facilities without approval of Washington.

Twiggs was taken at the point of a gun to negotiate with the Texas Commissioners. (His capture is reenacted every year, I think.)

He wasn't in a strong negotiating position. Texas troops far outnumbered and surrounded the US force and the War Department had not given him any guidance on what to do if this happened despite his asking (more than once I think). To resist would have begun the WBTS. Sam Houston helped convince Twiggs not to start the war in Texas, IIRC.

Apparently, there was shouting back and forth in the negotiations with the captured Twiggs, but Twiggs managed to get the OK for his troops, some supplies, and their arms (small arms, at least) to go to the coast where they would be shipped north. The transfer of US troops to the north was interrupted after Sumter fell. Those federal troops that were still in Texas at that time became some of the first prisoners of war.