Yes, but not from me.
Their forces fired on federal warships attempting to resupply a federal installation.
That's incorrect. Now if I was like you, I would accuse you of lying. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and simply accuse you of being mistaken.
The Confederates never fired on those warships because those warships did not follow their printed orders. They never came near enough for Confederate shore batteries to fire at them. Instead, they waited at the rendezvous point for the arrival of their command ship the "Powhatan" which they expected to be commanded by Captain Mercer, who was to lead the expedition in force to complete it's mission.
But it never arrived, and was never going to arrive, because Lincoln, using hand carried secret orders that did not go through the Navy's chain of command, had relieved Captain Mercer of command, Installed Lieutenant David Porter in charge of the Ship, ordered it to be disguised, sailed far out into the Atlantic so there was much less likelihood of anyone seeing or recognizing it, and then had it sail to Florida under a British Flag. In this manner, Lincoln had deliberately prevented the Ships from completing their stated mission, without the Confederates being made aware that those ships weren't going to attack.
So no, the Confederates did not fire on Federal warships attempting to complete their mission. The Federal warships did not attempt to complete their mission as the Confederates believed they would. Had the Confederates known those ships were going to do nothing more than just sit there, they would have avoided firing on Sumter. It was the belief that they were about to be attacked by those warships that stirred them to action against the fort.
This used to be funny, but now it’s sad.
I can see why you would think it is sad. I would feel sad too if the evidence was going against my position. It would make me quite bothered that my every argument is getting beat to death by a gang of ruthless facts.
“Buchanan decided that he would next send Anderson reinforcements and supplies. In January 1861, he dispatched the chartered and unarmed civilian steamer Star of the West with 200 Soldiers plus a cargo of food and medical supplies to Charleston Harbor. The South Carolinians opened fire on her on 9 January, the first shots being fired from a battery on Morris Island that was manned by cadets from The Citadel. They could easily have been the first shots of a civil war, but after several rounds flew past his ship and one caused minor damage, the Star of the West ’s civilian skipper turned back.”
Note that Southern forces indeed fired on a Union ships, and it was BEFORE Lincoln had been sworn into office.
Once he had become president, Lincoln informed the governor of South Carolina that he intended to send a relief flotilla to bring supplies to Sumter. Despite the fact that the commander of the federal troops stated they would withdraw by April 15 unless resupplied, Beauregard ordered his command to open fire and they did so on April 12, BEFORE the relief ships had even arrived. It was the decision made by Jefferson Davis that began hostilies and led to a South to a ruinous self immolation.
Confederate Secretary of State Robert Toombs says that the attack “will lose us every friend at the North. You will only strike a hornet’s nest. ... Legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary. It puts us in the wrong. It is fatal.“
Your description of the intended relief force and the involvement of David Porter is both innacurate and incomplete, as usual. The Powhatten went south to Florida to defend another federal fort under threat in that state. Kind of an important detail you left out. There were conflicting orders for the ship because of machinations within Lincoln’s cabinet. It was finally decided that the Powhatten would go to Florida a week before the flotilla would arrive in South Carolina. Besides, the relief force included two warships, the Pawnee and the Pochantas.
So, it WAS the Southern forces who shot first. They DID fire at an attempt to relieve the fort. Union forces did NOT attempt to attack anywhere in South Carolina.