My friend, who is black, was a history major, and he was completely obsessed with all matters of race and especially the Civil War. I went over to his house one day and he was chortling about something he learned from his History professor that day. Then he related how Lincoln cleverly engineered the start of the civil war.
He said Lincoln was a shrewd man at reading other people and predicting what they would do if given the right motivation, and he claimed Lincoln used this skill to maneuver the confederates into giving him a Casus Belli, and they simply fell into his trap. This is the day I started doubting the official narrative.
Your relating the various warships setting sail makes it look more like the Confederates were not just a bunch of trigger happy belligerents. I have little doubt the Confederates had spies in the various harbors that would mark the doings there and get word to the Southern leadership as they thought necessary.
A group of ships being armed and equipped would not have gone unnoticed.
Again, very interesting material you are presenting.
5/1/1861 In a letter to Gustavus Fox, President Lincoln said,
“You and I both anticipated that the cause of the country would be advanced by making the attempt to provision Ft. Sumter, even if it had failed; and it is no small consolation not to feel that our anticipation is justified by the results.”
Seward said, “The Sumter expedition failed of its ostensible object, but it brought about the Southern attack on that fort. The first gun fired there effectively cleared the air... and placed Lincoln at the head of the united people..”