Well we will never know, because Lincoln sent a belligerent force with belligerent orders, and if there is one thing that is very certain, if you send warships with orders for them to fight, you are going to start a war.
Lincoln started the war. Deliberately.
if you send warships with orders for them to fight
The warships had no such orders.
Force was to be used only if the Confederated resisted the resupply of the fort and restricted to assisting in that resupply effort only.
No, in fact, the opposite is true, as the 1858 naval expedition to Paraguay amply proved.
It was called "gunboat diplomacy" and we still use it today on occasion.
In every case the orders are : no first use of force but respond with force if attacked.
DiogenesLamp: "Lincoln started the war. Deliberately."
Davis's order to take Fort Sumter by force was a deliberate act of war, period, which Davis well understood would start war and immediately win at least Virginia.