Yes, he had been planning to force a war for a long time. He would ignore the armistice of his own government to force the issue.
There can be no doubt that Lincoln waited for the Senate to adjourn and began a war as soon as it was out of session. He did not call them back into session until July 4, 1861 when the war was a
fait accompli. He then delivered a message to the special session of congress where he lied in his testimony.
There is an interesting sequence of events.
3/04/1861 -- Lincoln inaugurated.
3/12/1861 -- Lincoln issues orders to Army Capt. Vogdes to reinforce and hold Fort Pickens. Capt. Vogdes is aboard ship off Pensacola. Delivery of these orders is delayed until March 31 to Capt. Vogdes, who in turn delivers them to Navy Capt. Adams on April 1.
3/28/1861 -- The Senate adjourned. 3/29/1861 -- Lincoln issues directive: "I desire that an expedition, to move to sea be got ready to sail as early as the 6th of April next, the whole according to memorandum attached..." The memo called for 300 seamen with one month's stores, and 200 soldiers with one year's stores.
3/31/1861 -- Orders issued 3/12/1861 are delivered to Capt. Vogdes. Delivery took either three weeks from the date of issuance or three days from the date of adjournment of the Senate.
4/01/1861 -- Orders issued to Capt. Vogdes are shown to Navy Capt. Adams. Capt. Adams refuses to assist Capt. Vogdes and informs SECNAV Welles of the orders.
4/01/1861 -- Orders issued by Winfield Scott, countersigned by Abraham Lincoln, to Brevet Colonel Harvey Brown to reinforce and hold Fort Pickens.
4/01/1861 -- Orders issued by Abraham Lincoln to Lt. D.D. Porter to assume command of any steamer available.
4/01/1861 -- Orders issued by Abraham Lincoln to Commandant, Brooklyn Navy Yard to "fit out the Powhatan without delay. Lieutenant Porter will relieve Captain Mercer in command of her. She is bound on secret service; and you will under no circumstances communicate to the Navy Department the fact that she is fitting out."
4/05/1861 -- SECNAV Welles, still unaware of the Lincoln intrigue, issues orders to Navy Capt. Mercer, "You will leave New York with the Powhatan in time to be off Charleston bar, 10 miles distant from and due east of the light house on the morning of the 11th instant, there to await the arrival of the transports with troops and stores. The Pawnee and Pocahontas will be orders to join you there, at the time mentioned, and also the Harriet Lane, etc.
4/11/1861 -- "April 11th at 9 P. M. the Brooklyn got under way and stood in toward the harbor; and during the night landed troops and marines on board, to reinforce Fort Pickens." Log of U.S.S. Supply, night of April 11, 1861.
LINK 4/12/1861 -- Fort Sumter fired upon.
4/17/1861 -- Lt. Porter arrived in Florida with Powhatan.
Within 8 days of taking office, orders of March 12, 1861 issued from the Lincoln administration to reinforce Fort Pickens and thereby violate the armistice that was in effect. These orders to Army Captain Vogdes were delayed until after the Senate adjourned on March 28, 1861 and then delivered by USS Crusader on March 31, 1861. Capt. Vogdes delivered them to Navy Captain Adams on April 1, 1861. Capt. Adams refused to comply with the orders.
credit to nolu chan for research posting.
PeaRidge rehearsing the March-April 1861 sequence of events:
"Within 8 days of taking office, orders of March 12, 1861 issued from the Lincoln administration to reinforce Fort Pickens and thereby violate the armistice that was in effect." Note the key word there, armistice.
Does not that word "armistice" imply a state of war preexisted Lincoln's inauguration, in which an informal "armistice" had prevented bloodshed?
And if a state of war pre-existed Lincoln's inauguration, who initiated that?
Who made surrender demands on Union forces in Union forts throughout the seceding states?
In what conceivable sense were such demands not in and of themselves acts of war?
The truth of this matter is that Lincoln in March-April 1861 only ordered what President Buchanan had previously done in January 1861 -- sent ships to resupply or reinforce Union troops in the two remaining Union forts, Sumter and Pickens.
The difference was that Buchanan's January resupply ship to Fort Sumter was fired on by secessionist forces, and so went home, mission not accomplished.
Lincoln's ships in April triggered Jefferson Davis to demand immediate surrender of Fort Sumter, and when Major Anderson temporarily refused, Davis launched a military assault which soon forced the surrender.
So Lincoln did nothing basically different from Buchanan, but Davis took the opportunity to start war, and soon after formally declare war on the United States.