Lincoln's deception? Where was be being deceiving?
Lincoln said in the message and also to the Northern newspapers that he was sending supplies...
Which is what the letter said. Didn't you read it.
One of the “relief supply” ships, the “Baltic”, intended to disembark troops (300 in number) at Fort Sumter to increase the manning of the fort by a multiple of four or five times it original complement.
In the event that the resupply was opposed. Again, didn't you read the message Lincoln sent to Pickens?
This is hardly the action of a ship “carrying supplies only”. A fine example of Lincoln's perfidy, as they called it.
Nobody in their right mind would call it that.
Actually it is you who did not read the “letter.”
Your posting states flatly that there was a letter. There was none.
According to your own link, Robert Chew was instructed by Lincoln to deliver a message.
No letter.
You can redact, re-frame, claim his message was taken out of context....whatever.
It does not change the fact that Lincoln ordered a “re-supply” effort and expected by the South Carolinians to arrive at Charleston, consisting of eleven ships carrying troops, munitions, and supplies.
Did Lincoln mention troops and munitions in his message?