The firing did not occur until Lincoln dispatched the U.S. navy into South Carolina waters resulting in the Gulf of Tonkin incident. I mean . . . the Ft. Sumter incident.
My reference to the fog of war relates to the belief by many, to this day, that the South was in some way responsible for Lincoln's decision to go to war.
Davis pulled the trigger. Reasons why matters not. Davis fired on a Federal Post. Act of War. Naval vessels at sea are not an act of war. Those ships did not even fire a shot.