The American public is mostly unaware that Lincoln sent 8 warships to attack the Confederates, and it was the sighting of these warships in the Swash channel of Charleston that triggered the attack on the Fort.
Every member of Lincoln's cabinet but one, told him that if he sent those warships, it would cause a war.
Did you know about that?
Re post 18: I was unaware of that, and that Lincoln didn’t listen to his cabinet.
Lincoln made it clear that Sumter was a US fort and not one belonging to South Carolina.
South Carolina was blocking access to a US fort. Lincoln did exactly what many other governments would have done in the same situation. Your facts are somewhat amiss in that Lincoln was planning on attacking Charleston. He was planning on relieving the fort. There IS a big difference between the two.
I’d say the American public is a bit more aware of what happened down there than you give them credit for.
“Lincoln sent 8 warships to attack the Confederates”
Kind of irrelevant since South Carolina militia had already fired on an unarmed US troop transport ship sailing to Sumter in January 1861 before Lincoln had even assumed the Presidency.