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I'm out of time again, so detailed responses will have to wait, but one point seems quick & easy to clear up:

FLT-bird: "The fort [Barrancus] sat on sovereign Florida territory and was being illegally held by federal troops....and they are the ones who fired first."

If you will note the incident at Fort Barrancus (near Fort Pickens) happened the night of January 8, 1861, two days before Florida declared secession.

"...decided to abandon Fort Barrancas when, around midnight of January 8, 1861, his guards repelled a group of local civilians who intended to occupy the fort.
Some historians claim that these were the first shots fired in the Civil War.
On January 10, 1861, the day Florida declared its secession from the Union..."

So their was nothing -- repeat nothing -- lawful about the secessionist civilians assault on Fort Barrancas and nothing illegal about the Union guards' response, period.

So their was nothing -- repeat nothing -- lawful about the secessionist civilians assault on Fort Barrancas...

What was it they did to "assault" Fort Barrancas? My recollection is that they noticed activity, and simply went there to see what was going on, and then they got shot at by the Union soldiers there.

I hadn't heard that they tried to "assault" the place, so you can enlighten me by providing details of how they conducted this assault.