Any excuse to blame someone else then.
Not to hear them tell it. They wanted to leave the Union which they saw as their right to do. To go their own way in peace.
Walking out, leaving behind responsibility for debt and national obligations while seizing every bit of government property in sight and shooting at anything waving the stars and strips, is not "going in peace".
Well, it certainly wasn't a sneak attack. Beauregard's actions leading up to the bombardment strongly suggest he didn't want to kill anybody, and ultimately he didn't.
I'm sorry but I find that to be absolute nonsense.
Anderson was given warning upon warning to leave and was even finally told on April 11th that firing would begin the following morning if he didn't.
Why should he leave? The fort was the property of the federal government and it was his command. The garrison didn't take any hostile actions towards Charleston; didn't bombard the town or halt shipping entering or leaving. The South demanded surrender of property that did not belong to them. And you insist their intent was peaceful?
Do you think Beauregard wanted to kill anybody? If so, didn't he have a pretty strange way of going about it?
A 24-plus hour bombardment is a good sign that he wanted to kill someone.
Who do you think he had in mind? Who specifically was he gunning for? The bombardment lasted 34 hours. If he wanted to kill someone he had ample time to improve his aim.
Since in your view "he wanted to kill someone" and his bloodlust hadn't been satiated by the end of the bombardment, what was the man to do?
Well, he could have slaughtered them all at the surrender ceremony and cut off their ears and sent them to Lincoln.
But he just didn't.
He honored their surrender and their flag lowering ceremony that followed.
He let them go in peace.
If only Lincoln could have been so magnanimous.