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jeff davis himself explained it many years later. He used an analogy. He said that if an arm is raised and holding a gun pointed at you, of course you will knock that arm away. That was his explanation for the south making the first strike at Sumner. But he wasn't very bright. He probably went to his grave not ever realizing that that gun wasnâ€™t loaded.

When one has a gun pointed at one, one does not waste a great deal of time wondering whether or not it is loaded. One presumes that it is, or soon will be.

As long as that fortress overlooked the entrance of Charleston South Carolina (the primary port in the Confederacy) it would always induce worry and concern as to what it might do.

A more apt analogy for what Ft. Sumter represented would be a "Sword of Damocles".

Lincoln suckered him.

And of that, I have become convinced. Lincoln was a very shrewd operator and had an amazing talent for manipulating and predicting his opposition's moves. He did it in the courtroom and he did it in his election races quite a lot.

But in the case of the civil war, he was too smart by half.

In referring to Jefferson Davis' response to Mr. Lincoln's ordering of his Navy to Charleston, handy dandy said: Lincoln suckered him.

The truth is not that simple.

Confederate States President Jefferson Davis described the attack by Lincoln's fleet on Charleston Harbor in his Message To the Confederate States Congress April 29, 1861:

"That this maneuver (Lincoln's surprise attack) failed in its purpose was not the fault of those who contrived it. A heavy tempest delayed the arrival of the expedition and gave time to the commander of our forces at Charleston to ask and receive the instructions of this Government. I directed a proposal to be made to the commander of Fort Sumter that we would abstain from directing our fire on Fort Sumter if he would promise not to open fire on our forces unless first attacked.

"This proposal was refused and the conclusion was reached that the design of the United States was to place the besieging (Confederate) force at Charleston between the simultaneous fire of the (U.S.) fleet and the fort. There remained, therefore, no alternative but to direct that the fort (Sumter) should at once be reduced."

HandyDandy: "Lincoln suckered him."

DiogenesLamp: "And of that, I have become convinced.
Lincoln was a very shrewd operator..."

"Shrewd operator" or dolt, Lincoln "suckered" nobody.
He merely, as President Buchanan had in January, sent ships to resupply the Union troops in Union Fort Sumter, fully informing the South Carolina governor of his intentions.
And just as they had in January, Confederates again fired on Union resupply forces, but this time also fired on, and demanded surrender from Fort Sumter.

In both January & April the choice for violence was the Confederacy's, and in April that choice went beyond "provocation" to actual initiation of war with the United States.

Three weeks later (May 6, 1861) the Confederacy confirmed its intentions with a formal Declaration of War against the United States, simultaneously sending military aid to pro-Confederates fighting in Union Missouri, calling up another 400,000 troops and ordering military supplies from abroad.

In the mean time, no Confederate soldier had been killed directly in battle with any Union force, and no Union Army had invaded any Confederate state.
So the choice to start war was strictly the Confederacy's, not Lincoln's.