[smug]

Why was the south *forced* to fire upon Federal troops at Fort Sumter?

The feds proved that although they said they would negotiate, it was only lip service. They agreed that the fort would not be reinforced during the talks, and the South agreed to supply rations to the troops. The feds agreed that the troops would remain a Moultrie and then ordered Anderson to move. If the Confederacy was to have any credibility it could not let these abuses pass. So they then set a deadline for Anderson to withdrawal. He did not. The fate of their Nation was at stake. A nation that does not control their own borders is not a nation.(Pay attention Congress) Every southern state that had not seceded was watching. Had they allowed Anderson to remain the other states would not have taken them seriously and would have remained in the Union. And as for Castro and Cuba we do not take him seriously but we did the Soviet Union. Probably too much so.

[Heyworth]

They agreed that the fort would not be reinforced during the talks, and the South agreed to supply rations to the troops. The feds agreed that the troops would remain a Moultrie and then ordered Anderson to move

Nonsense. The South Carolina commissioners hadn't met with anybody when Anderson moved, and it's clear from the reaction in Washington that nobody ordered Anderson to move. He did it all on his own, to protect his men by moving them from an indefensible position to a defensible one.

Official Records

A nation that does not control their own borders is not a nation.

Well then the CSA was never a nation, since there was never a single day they controlled their own borders.