[BroJoeK]

PeaRidge to DiogenesLamp: "In all, consisted of eight warships, carrying twenty-six guns and one thousand, four hundred men."

I don't think those are the correct numbers of ships or men which actually arrived off Charleston port.
Regardless, the number intended to reinforce Fort Sumter, only if necessary, was a much smaller sub-set of that total of 1,400 men.

[DiogenesLamp]

I don't think those are the correct numbers of ships or men which actually arrived off Charleston port. Regardless, the number intended to reinforce Fort Sumter, only if necessary, was a much smaller sub-set of that total of 1,400 men.

Lincoln had already been advised by his Military experts that it would take a force of 20,000 men to reinforce that fortress. A token force of 1,400 could serve no other purpose than a provocation.

It could not take the Fort, it could not serve as an effective attack, it literally served no other purpose than being a pawn move in an opening game.