[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "Pray tell, in what incident did the forces of the Confederate army invade Union states prior to the Union starting a war with them?
The Union army did invade Southern states first.
I know of no incidents in which the Confederate Army invaded Union states first."

But of course you do know.

The first Confederate soldier to die in battle was Private Henry L. Wyatt of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers, later the 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, at the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861.
Before the first Confederate soldier's death, Confederates' actions had already produced:

1. Two Union soldier deaths at Fort Sumter, April 14, 1861.

2. Four Union soldier deaths in Baltimore, April 19,1861.

3. Military hardware sent to Confederates killing Union troops in Union Missouri, April 23, 1861.

4. "Confederates desired to make Washington their capital and massed to take it", April 1861.

5. Hundreds of Union troops held in Texas as prisoners of war, April 25, 1861.

6. Several more forts, Naval Yard (Norfolk 4/20) & ships (i.e., Star of the West 4/19) seized, some in still officially Union states.

7. All debts to Northerners repudiated, thus winning hatred from DiogenesLamp's "New York Power Brokers".

8. Formal declaration of war on the United States, May 6, 1861.

9. 400,000 more Confederate soldiers called up, May 9, 1861, now 500,000 total.

10. Warships, arms & supplies ordered from abroad, May 10, 1861.

11. Trains, railroad cars & machinery seized at Harpers Ferry, May 14, 1861.

12. Virginia voters ratified secession, Confederacy and Declaration of War against the United States, May 23, 1861.

13. 50,000 Confederate troops called up in Union Missouri, June 10, 1861.

In summary: Confederates were fighting all-out war against the United States for weeks and months before the Union seriously responded.

[DiogenesLamp]

The first Confederate soldier to die in battle was Private Henry L. Wyatt of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers, later the 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, at the Battle of Big Bethel on June 10, 1861.

April 12 comes before June 10. The Union sent their troops and warships to Charleston in early April. Besides, the battle of Big Bethel took place in Virginia, which you may or may not have noticed was part of the Confederacy by this time.

Union troops invaded, and that is what caused the fight.

Two Union soldier deaths at Fort Sumter, April 14, 1861.

The Confederates did not kill those soldiers. Error on the part of the Union forces in Sumter is what killed those men. They were killed accidentally when their symbolic cannon firing (after all hostile action had ceased) went badly wrong.

But I can see why you would want to grasp at straws to justify the Union invading.