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http://laws.findlaw.com/us/67/635.html
"THE PRIZE CASES"
U.S. Supreme Court 67 U.S. 635 (1862)

There are certain propositions of law which must necessarily affect the ultimate decision of these cases, and many others, which it will be proper to discuss and decide before we notice the special facts peculiar to each.
They are,
1st. Had the President a right to institute a blockade of ports in possession of persons in armed rebellion against the Government, on the principles of international law, as known and acknowledged among civilized States?
2d. Was the property of persons domiciled or residing within those States a proper subject of capture on the sea as 'enemies' property?'
But by the Acts of Congress of February 28th, 1795, and 3d of March, 1807, he is authorized to called out the militia and use the military and naval forces of the United States in case of invasion by foreign nations, and to suppress insurrection against the government of a State or of the United States.
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He does not initiate the war, but is bound to accept the challenge without waiting for any special legislative authority. And whether the hostile party be a foreign invader, or States organized in rebellion, it is none the less a war, although the declaration of it be 'unilateral.'
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This greatest of civil wars was not gradually developed by popular commotion, tumultuous assemblies, or local unorganized insurrections. However long may have been its previous conception, it nevertheless sprung forth suddenly from the parent brain, a Minerva in the full panoply of war. The President was bound to meet it in the shape it presented itself, without waiting for Congress to baptize it with a name; and no name given to it by him or them could change the fact. It is not the less a civil war, with belligerent parties in hostile array, because it may be called an 'insurrection' by one side, and the insurgents be considered as rebels or traitors. It is not necessary that the independence of the revolted province or State be acknowledged in order to constitute it a party belligerent in a war according to the law of nations.
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It presented itself in the form of Lincoln ordering armed forces to supply, reinforceand hold forts and to thereby violate an existing armistice. Lincoln then lied to Congress about the orders that were given, lied about knowledge of the armistice and refused to provide information to Congress about it, lied about an officer sent to Fort Pickens and taken prisoner of war and refused a request of Congress to provide information about that. There is no indication that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth was presented to the Court either. To do otherwise constituted perpetrating a fraud upon the Court.

The Militia Act of 1795
http://www.geocities.com/irby.geo/fed/1795militiaact.html
The 1795 Act For Calling Forth The Militia
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SEC. 2. That whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed, in any state, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by this act, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia of such state, or of any other state or states, as may be necessary to suppress such combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed; and the use of militia so to be called forth may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the then next session of Congress.
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SEC. 4. ... and that no officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, of the militia, shall be compelled to serve more than three months after his arrival at the place of rendezvous, in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which he belongs.

Once upon a time, Good Father Abraham called up 75,000 militia to suppress all of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America. He honestly expected that these 75,000 militia could finish this task in three months or less.

SEC. 4. ... and that no officer, non-commissioned officer, or private, of the militia, shall be compelled to serve more than three months

note that lincoln asked for volunteers. In that sense, none were compelled. Compared to the so called Confederacy, when the draft was compulsory at a very early date.

Please note: No southern families lived at Fort Sumter. The small garrison, and any reenforcement were no threat to Charleston. They would have increased the ability of the garrison to resist the forcible murder of US soldiers, theft of government property, and occupation of federal territory and buildings. The so called Armistice permitted the rebels to gather troops and arms, but, according to our partisans on this list, did not permit the Union soldiers to do the same. That is not an armistice, it is a suicide pact. If there was such an armistice, the southern gentlemen violated it first.

Once upon a time, Good Father Abraham called up 75,000 militia to suppress all of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America. He honestly expected that these 75,000 militia could finish this task in three months or less.

And a southerm senator said he would wipe up all the blood shed with one hankerchief.

President Lincoln said in a letter from 1864 that events had controlled him, not the other way around.

The day after the first battle of Bull Run, President Lincoln wrote down an outline of how to procecute the war, and the war did follow that outline.

Walt