He knew and understood the consequences of his actions. It was a calculated political stroke on his part.
You seem to put great emphasis on Lincoln's words as if his words alone are all the proof any student of history would need to understand that Lincoln was just trying to keep the peace. Bull! He sent that fleet into that harbor to pick a fight with an opponent that was only too eager to oblige him.
He knew that if he did nothing then the forces in Fort Sumter would be forced to turn over the facility to the Davis regime. He knew it was a tense situation, which is why he made his intentions clear to Governor Pickens in a letter outlining the peaceful intentions. A letter delivered well before the projected arrival date of the supply ships. Lincoln did what he could to ensure that the status quo would be remain in place. It was Davis who forced the issue.
You seem to put great emphasis on Lincoln's words as if his words alone are all the proof any student of history would need to understand that Lincoln was just trying to keep the peace. Bull!
And you seem to think that it was Lincoln goading the Davis regime into firing that was the sole reason for the war. Likewise bull. Davis needed a war worse than you claim Lincoln did. He knew that his rump 7 state confederacy had neither the free population or the industrial base to thrive. It was doomed to dependency on someone, either the U.S. or Europe. Davis knew that if the south was to succeed then it would need the other 8 slave states. With those states the confederacy would have a larger population and some semblance of an industrial base. Davis knew that only a war would bring those states into his fold, and gambled that a war could be won. He gambled and he failed. It could be argued that any chance of an independent south died at Sumter, and it was a victim of a suicide orchestrated by Jefferson Davis.