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If the armament which lay outside the harbor, while the fort was being battered to pieces, had been designed for the relief of Major Anderson, it certainly would have made a show of fulfilling its mission.

That makes no sense. What were they supposed to do? Deliver the supplies while the fort was under ferocious fire? Fire back? The fleet did what they would do if it were part of a resupply mission: they stayed out of the fight, recognizing that they couldn't resupply the fort any more.

If the ships had gone in shooting it would be hard to maintain that the fleet had been sent to Charleston on a peaceful resupply mission. The ships didn't go in shooting, and the newspaper takes that as proof that the mission wasn't peaceful. Not much logic there.

Nineteenth century newspapers were all partisan. The Buffalo Daily Courier was a Democratic paper. It represented the Democrat point of view. Citing its editorials or opinions proves no more than quoting what a partisan hack says on cable television today.

That makes no sense. What were they supposed to do? Deliver the supplies while the fort was under ferocious fire? Fire back?

Anderson told Beauregard that if he fired on any of those warships he would use the cannons of Ft. Sumter to fire upon the Confederates. This blunt statement made Beauregard understand that Sumter had to be neutralized.

My point is that Anderson would have fired upon Beauregard if he attacked those ships. Is it too much to think that normal ship officers would have shared Anderson's view, and fired back on the forces attacking their people in a fort?

If the ships had gone in shooting it would be hard to maintain that the fleet had been sent to Charleston on a peaceful resupply mission.

The fleet was going to have to shoot in order to accomplish their mission. They only awaited on the arrival of Captain Mercer in the Powhatan, and he wasn't coming.

Had the ships actually done what they were instructed to do before they left, there would have been no pretense possible about this being a "supply" mission. It would have been recognized as a belligerent force deliberately starting a war, which is what the Confederates were led to believe it was.

Nineteenth century newspapers were all partisan. The Buffalo Daily Courier was a Democratic paper. It represented the Democrat point of view.

I have no knowledge of this, but I will take your word for it. Even so, it's point has merit. Ft. Sumter was only useful as a bone of contention. It was useful as an excuse to start a war, and the starting of a war would inhibit direct Southern trade with Europe, which was the actual reason why the war was needed.