That is not true at all. I've read the messages exchanged between Beauregard and Anderson. You may not be aware of this, but Anderson was Beauregard's artillery instructor at West Point, and they both had great respect for each other.
Beauregard had cordial exchanges with Anderson since the crises first began in December of 1860, and Beauregard repeatedly asked Anderson to withdraw from the fort, and offered all consideration to help him do so.
It was when the first two ships of the war fleet was sighted that Beauregard was ordered:
MONTGOMERY, April 10, 1861.General BEAUREGARD, Charleston:
If you have no doubt of the authorized character of the agent who communicated to you the intention of the Washington Government to supply Fort Sumter by force you will at once demand its evacuation, and if this is refused proceed, in such manner as you may determine, to reduce it. Answer.
L. P. WALKER.
Beauregard even went so far as to inform Anderson that if he could but set a date for future withdraw from the Fort, Beauregard would give him whatever time he required.
Anderson had in fact penned a note in which he was going to inform Beauregard that he would soon evacuate the fort. Had Lincoln not sent those ships, the matter would have been resolved peaceably.
It was the arrival of those warships that forced Beauregard's hand.
And the South did not want to stay in because they had the upper hand in Congress and were losing it as more Free states came in.
They did *NOT* have the upper hand in Congress. They were continuously outvoted by the North Eastern Coalition. They could do nothing to protect their interests in congress, and that's why they wanted out.
That is why Lee and others did not want to start shooting, but the fire breathers did.
No one was in a hurry to start shooting, but the South anticipated that it was eventually going to be required.
They thought the South could easily beat the North, and that the money would flow to them, to keep up their “peculiar” way of life.
They didn't think they could "easily" beat the North, they thought the North would never go to the lengths that it did to stop them. They regarded their right to leave as being an accepted premise based on the Declaration of Independence and therefore it would be contrary to the founding principle to stop them.
Also their "peculiar institution" had existed for "four score and seven years" in the Union, and would have continued to exist in the Union had they remained in the Union. It was protected by the US Constitution in Article IV Section 2, and it would have been impossible for the United States to Abolish slavery.
Also Lincoln offered his support in passing the "Corwin Amendment" that would have protected Slavery in the Union even further. My point here is that the "peculiar institution" existed under the Union and would have continued to exist under the Union, so it is intellectually dishonest to paint it as the exclusive property of the Confederacy.
And the ships sailing to Fort Sumter were to resupply Sumter, not start a war. Lincoln did not give them orders to fire.
I've read the orders. The orders say to use force to supply the Fort if their efforts to resupply it were resisted. It was a foregone conclusion that they would be resisted, and this is why Lincoln sent all those warships and support vessels instead of one ship like the "Star of the West" as had been sent previously.
The orders to "fire" were implicit in the words "Use Force."
So, if the Federal Government has surrendered the Fort nicely, then there would have been no problem? I guess that is always the solution, give up to the ones threatening so there will be peace.
I like how you seem to know the mind of the Southern leaders, but pamphlets and news articles from that period show a bunch of fire breathers. From caning people in Congress, to other acts of violence, like shooting at the “Star of the West”, which could also be seen as the first shot of the war. Again, from the hand of the South.
As far as Congress, you are either ignorant of the facts, or willfully prevaricating.
The 1860 Congress was the first one that the North controlled, under Republicans. All the rest, 34th, 35th, etc., were controlled by the Democrats, the South particularly. More states were entering the Union free, because that was the right thing to do, and the South would lose its monopoly on power.