Replies

DiogenesLamp: "He in fact did, albeit with a catch.
They were to be led by the Powhatan, which he deliberately detached without telling them..."

Your whole conspiracy theory is about as luny as any I can imagine.
Occam's razor says it was a simple screw-up, no serious reason to think otherwise.

DiogenesLamp: "It left them poised menacingly in a staging position, but with no actual possibility of them engaging in the attack which their orders would have required had the Powhatan showed up."

And that's a lie, and you well know it.
Lincoln's orders were not to attack anybody: no first use of force, so long as they were not attacked.
And the more important point is this: even with Powhatan's misdirection, Lincoln's resupply mission was far from doomed to fail.
All success needed was the combination of calm seas and cover of darkness to deliver their supplies to Fort Sumter.
And that's just what they had Saturday night, April 13, the day after Anderson surrendered.
Had Anderson held out a little longer, Lincoln's resupply mission could have been completed as intended and his "battle fleet" returned to their base.

Of course, with Confederates going berserk, there's no telling what future consequences might have been, doubtless not happy for the good Major & his troops.
But the decision to surrender was Anderson's alone, Lincoln did what he could to help.

DiogenesLamp: "The Fleet's orders would have been suicide had they actually followed them.
Every ship would have been sunk, and most of the men on them killed, and Lincoln and his Generals knew this..."

Total nonsense, cover of darkness & calm seas would allow boats to deliver supplies to Anderson unmolested.
Mission accomplished.

DiogenesLamp: "One can only believe he never intended for those men to be killed.
They were only intended to create a provocation for which he could initiate a war."

Riiiiiight.
And there was no moon landing, Area 51 is full aliens and 9/11 was an inside job.
You know, for some people the facts just won't satisfy, got to be something more...

Your whole conspiracy theory is about as luny as any I can imagine. Occam's razor says it was a simple screw-up, no serious reason to think otherwise.

Because it's completely reasonable to believe that on the edge of the most major war in History, no great care would be taken to insure that the most significant ship in the Sumter expedition would arrive where it was expected so that it could lead the mission.

You plead "colossal stupidity" as your defense? Lincoln was not a stupid man. He was in fact a very clever man, and he was given to underhanded tricks, like having the railroads bring in massive numbers of astro-turf supporters with counterfeit tickets to shout down other candidates at the nominating convention in Chicago.

And that's a lie, and you well know it.

You wish it were.

Lincoln's orders were not to attack anybody: no first use of force, so long as they were not attacked.

The orders simply say to use force if they are impeded or prevented from landing supplies. Being attacked is not required for them to use force. Just parking boats in the channel is sufficient cause for the fleet to use force.

Total nonsense, cover of darkness & calm seas would allow boats to deliver supplies to Anderson unmolested.

So they could batter the fort to pieces, but they couldn't hit any of the boats or ships that would be trying to reach it? Boats which would have been closer to them than Sumter actually was?

And there was no moon landing, Area 51 is full aliens and 9/11 was an inside job. You know, for some people the facts just won't satisfy, got to be something more...

And so you finally have to grasp at the straw of "You are a conspiracy nut because you believe massed numbers of cannon batteries would sink ships!"

I'll tell you what is a kooky conspiracy theory. The idea that people would have been able to run that gauntlet of cannon fire without getting sunk.