What if Lewis Powell's gun had fired?

[MaddieM]

(09-09-2012 03:52 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Fort Sumter was a federal fort. It never was the property of South Carolina or the Confederacy. When it was fired upon, and when it surrendered, that was a clear act of rebellion to which Lincoln issued his initial call for troops. It was only after the war was lost, and the Lost Cause took hold, that it somehow became Lincoln's fault.

Best
Rob

Regardless of the fact that it was built on land that didn't belong to the North? One would suppose that, despite Fort Sumter not belonging to the confederacy, the very fact that it was on land that did belong to confederacy and the refusal therefore to vacate, would be seen as a hostile act of war?

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(09-09-2012 03:52 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Fort Sumter was a federal fort. It never was the property of South Carolina or the Confederacy. When it was fired upon, and when it surrendered, that was a clear act of rebellion to which Lincoln issued his initial call for troops. It was only after the war was lost, and the Lost Cause took hold, that it somehow became Lincoln's fault.

Best
Rob

Could Lincoln have anticipated this and wanted this to happen in order to initiate war? It's a very common ploy in warfare.