I have not seen that event reported elsewhere, but assuming it's accurate, it simply reflects the same thinking behind Lincoln's April missions to resupply both Forts Pickens and Sumter:
Lincoln was pledged to occupy, support and defend Federal properties, and did not respect "informal truces" that prevented the Union from doing so.
The fact is that any official Confederate threat against Union forces on Union property was itself unlawful, and carrying out such threats were acts of war.
By the way, your link does report and correct my quote from Lincoln regarding his willingness to trade Fort Sumter for Virginia:
Anxious to avoid war, Lincoln willingly joined in these efforts.
One possibility was an agreement to surrender Fort Sumter in return for a pledge of unconditional loyalty on the part of Virginia.
There was nothing inherently implausible about such a deal.
Though many Virginians sympathized with the states of the lower South, most were loyal to the Union, and Unionists had a clear majority in the state convention, which was still in session.
The president hoped to confer with George W. Summers, the leading Unionist in that convention, but Summers declined to come to Washington.
Instead, he sent John B. Baldwin, another Unionist, who had a long secret conference with Lincoln on April 5.
What the two men said became a matter of dispute, but according to the most reliable account the President promised:
"Whether intentionally or inadvertently, Baldwin misunderstood the President, and nothing came of this offer."
rustbucket: "Do you want me to repost Adams and Meigs statements too?"
Regarding?
I suggest that you look at your post 439 and see what it quoted from my post 432. If that still doesn't ring a bell for you, then check my post 391 where I provided quotes from Adams and Meigs (and Anderson as well). I suspect you'll disagree with all three of them. But they were there and involved in the events first hand; you and I were not.
You and I have very different interpretations of the issues and history of the war. That's fine. However, I don't want to get bogged down in an FR version of Groundhog Day providing information that counters the same old arguments and claims with the same people again and again. (I wouldn't be surprised if you felt the same way.) That is one reason I've been off the threads for a while. That is also why I've ignored the bulk of your recent posts to me.
By the way, in my old post to you of long ago, I did provide a second link to Lincoln's March 5th verbal instruction to Scott concerning Fort Pickens.
Be well, BroJoeK. I'm off the threads for a while -- too busy.