[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "Lincoln sent a fleet of warships with the intent of provoking the Confederates into attacking either the ships or the fort.
He cleverly allowed the public orders to go out that the ships would attack, but secretly issued orders which would absolutely prevent them from attacking."

You have it totally wrong.
There was nothing "clever" about it, since what Lincoln told SC governor Pickens directly is exactly what was in Lincoln's orders to his ship captains -- no first use of force in resupplying Fort Sumter.

Of course, in your own warped and twisted mind, you've converted Lincoln's orders against first use of force into order to use force and even to attack Confederates.

You even call that "clever", but in reality, all the "cleverness" is inside your own brain, having nothing to do with the reality of April 1861.

In reality, as Jefferson Davis himself announced to CSA Gen. Bragg on April 3, 1861, Davis intended to start Civil War at Forts Sumter and Pickens, regardless of what Lincoln did or didn't do.

And the reasons why are perfectly obvious to anybody not wearing Lost Cause blinders against truth -- only war would bring Virginia into the Confederacy and with Virginia, all of the Upper South, possibly Border South states too.

Because of that, Jefferson Davis would have been a complete fool -- at least in the short term -- not to start Civil War at Fort Sumter, regardless of what Lincoln did or didn't do.

[DiogenesLamp]

There was nothing "clever" about it, since what Lincoln told SC governor Pickens directly is exactly what was in Lincoln's orders to his ship captains -- no first use of force in resupplying Fort Sumter.

Are you forgetting that the Union government tried to sneak in troops and munitions with the Star of the West?

Firstly, the ship's orders (obviously made their way into the hands of the confederates) said that they would use force.

Secondly, the government had already tried to sneak more forces into the fort, and had been caught been deceptive.

Thirdly, when they launched their invasion of Fort Pickens, they had said they weren't going to do that, and yet they did. When they were caught (as woodpusher pointed out in the messages he posted above) they said, to paraphrase Harry Reid, "Well it worked, didn't it?"

Trusting the government is foolish. Safer bet is that they are lying.

Still true today.