What matters is the fact that because of their official orders, the Confederates saw them as an attacking force, and this is exactly what Lincoln wanted them to believe was happening.
Lincoln was a clever manipulating bastard.
He was good at it."
I'm sorry, but the core problem here is that you are arguing Jefferson Davis himself was an idiot and fool who let Lincoln dance circles around him while Davis could only respond stupidly.
The truth is that Davis was not "manipulated" at Fort Sumter because he had every intention to attack both Forts Sumpter and Pickens as soon as he was ready.
Davis himself said that to CSA Gen. Bragg, over a week before there was any word from Washington about your alleged "war fleet".
Davis made clear to Bragg that it would be a good idea to make it look like Lincoln fired the first shots, but in the end that didn't matter because of other more important considerations.
Davis needed to start Civil War as soon as possible, and so could not afford to wait forever for Lincoln to start shooting.
And the reason Davis needed war is not at all hard to understand -- war was the only way to convince Virginians to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.
No war = no Virginia and no Virginia = no Tennessee, no North Carolina no Arkansas, no Kentucky, no Missouri, etc.
How is this not obvious to you guys?