[GOPcapitalist]

The hostile 'nation' in the picture was the confederacy. The Union soldiers were in a fort that was the property of the United States

The yankees had no legitimate right to be there. Their presence itself initiated the hostilities.

and no hostile actions on any kind had been made before the confederacy decided to shell the fort.

Not true. The yankees fired on a confederate ship entering Charleston harbor the day before Beauregard ordered the shelling commenced.

[Non-Sequitur]

The yankees had no legitimate right to be there. Their presence itself initiated the hostilities.

How so? Sumter was the property of the U.S. Government, built with federal money on an island created from Vermont granite on property deeded to the government by the South Carolina legislature. They had every legitimate right to be there.

The yankees fired on a confederate ship entering Charleston harbor the day before Beauregard ordered the shelling commenced.

Beauregard had been given orders to fire on Sumter if it did not surrender and those orders were issued the day before the Harriet Lane arrived.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Not true. The yankees fired on a confederate ship entering Charleston harbor the day before Beauregard ordered the shelling commenced.

Unless Beauregard had a radio, he knew nothing about it. This incident had nothing to do with the firing on Fort Sumter; that's not even a half truth on your part.

Walt

[Ditto]

The yankees fired on a confederate ship entering Charleston harbor the day before Beauregard ordered the shelling commenced.

What's your source for that statement?