We adhere to the opinion we expressed on Monday -- but which rests, we confess, on no positive information -- namely, that it was never intended to provision or reinforce Fort Sumter, at the cost of an engagement between the fleet and the powerful batteries of the rebels. Such an engagement could have had but one result. The defeat of the attempt, with the destruction of the vessels and the ultimate reduction of the fort, was as certain as any future event could possibly be. War, especially a war of fortifications, has become purely and strictly a matter of science. Its result can be calculated with positive certainty. And we presume that no military man, whose judgment is of the slightest value, can he found at Washington or elsewhere, who would take the responsibility of attempting to reinforce and hold Fort Sumter with the forces available for that purpose.If the President did really intend to do this, -- against the advice or without the sanction of General SCOTT, then his first step has been a gross and unpardonable blunder, one which, if the same policy were to be persisted in, would utterly destroy the public confidence in his ability to conduct a campaign. Our own belief is, that the attempt at reinforcement was a feint, -- that its object was to put upon the rebels the full and clear responsibility of commencing the war, and that no more obstinate defence was contemplated than would suffice to vindicate the honor of the Government.
New York Times, April 17, 1861.
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"The plan succeeded... They attacked Sumter - it fell, and thus, did more service than it otherwise could."
Abraham Lincoln letter to Orville Browning
"You and I both anticipated that the cause of the country would be advanced by making the attempt to provision Fort Sumpter, even if it should fail; and it is no small consolation now to feel that our anticipation is justified by the result. "
Abraham Lincoln letter to Gustavus Fox
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"In ten days i'll have us at war with these sons of bitches and I'll make it look like their faul!"
He had met with President Roosevelt to discuss the evidence of impending hostilities with Japan, and the question was
"how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves." You are right. Ft. Sumter *WAS* like Pearl Harbor... sort of.