And so, the Lost Cause nonsense just never stops, does it?
Where to begin?
Well, first of all, Capt. Doubleday commanded one of two artillery companies under overall command of Maj. Robert Anderson.
On December 26, 1860, Anderson acted on written orders from the treasonous US Secretary of War, Virginian John Floyd, and moved his command from one Union fort (Moultrie) to another Union fort he considered more defensible (Sumter).
There is no record saying Maj Anderson asked for Capt. Doubleday's advice, or what advice Doubleday may have given.
We might suppose if Anderson had asked for Doubleday's advice, Doubleday would have advised the actions Anderson immediately took.
However, the information we have says Anderson's decision to relocate to Fort Sumter came as a surprise to Doubleday.
Maj. Anderson ordered Capt. Doubleday to command the first group of troops (presumably Doubleday's E Battery) to row to Fort Sumter.
So, Doubleday was not in Fort Moultrie to spike its guns.
And, so far as we know, despite reports that Anderson had Moultrie's guns spiked and carriages burned, when Confederates then seized Fort Moultrie, they captured 56 guns, which we are told they immediately repaired and used, along with other captured Union weapons, to set up dozens of new batteries & positions around Charleston harbor.
In December 1860, there were no "Southern representatives" -- none, zero nada -- "meeting in Washington DC negotiating a peaceful turnover of the" Union forts in & around Charleston harbor.
There were only pretenders demanding surrender from US President Buchanan, which Buchanan always refused.
There were no, and could be no, "negotiations" because, for starters, President Buchanan had no Constitutional authority to arbitrarily give away Federal properties.
That authority is constitutionally deligated to Congress, and nobody, no one, no person, no "representative" ever approached the US Congress about disposing of Federal properties in secession states.
MMusson: "So, not only did Abner Doubleday invent baseball, he started the Civil War, even after Lincoln gave his word that the forts would be left alone until after the negotiations were finished"
And here the historical nonsense turns into mind-boggling stupidity, beginning with the fact that President-elect Lincoln had nothing to do with -- zero, nada, zilch, nil, nought -- December 1860 events related to Fort Sumter.
President Buchanan did say he would not "immediately" occupy Fort Sumter, but on December 11, the treasonous Secretary of War Floyd had ordered Anderson to move his command,
- "...whenever you have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act.[19]"