He didn't trick the Confederates. They knew he had loaded up ships with soldiers to reinforce the Fort. Had they allowed it to continue, they would have had an even more entrenched union presence in a fortress that commanded the approach to the harbor.
If they had decided to fight this reinforcement, the guns of the fort would have been trained on them. The only rational thing to do militarily was to prevent those guns commanding the high ground from aiding in the landing of those troops.
Lincoln had put them in a D@mned if you do, D@mned if you don't situation, but he didn't "trick" them.
He tricked the Northern public. That's who got tricked.
He tricked the Northern public. That's who got tricked.
But...but...that's not what we've read in our history books and been taught! ;-)
Rock's rebuttal ought to be...entertaining.