It doesn’t matter, really. Johnny Reb kicked off the fandango while Buchanan was still preezy. January 9, 1861. Did that dastardly Lincoln trick secesh into firing on an unarmed merchant ship too?
Another example of where you don't know what the f*** you are talking about. The Star of the West was carrying troops and munitions. The Wikipedia entry on it used to say so, but last time I checked they had removed that little detail about it carrying troops and munitions.
Local ships had spotted the Star of the West offloading the troops and cargo from the Brooklyn. They arrived in port first and telegraphed the authorities in Charleston.
If you do a little digging, you can finally find some articles that admit the Star of the West was carrying soldiers and war material.
Once again, the early belligerent acts of the war were committed by Union forces.