Lincoln and Ft. Sumter

[RJNorton]

Laurie, in an attempt to look at all sides of this question, I was curious what Thomas DiLorenzo included in his book, and here's a portion of his section on this question:

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The historian Bruce Catton explains how Lincoln maneuvered Jefferson Davis into firing the first shot:

Lincoln had been plainly warned by his military advisors that a ship taking provisions to Fort Sumter would be fired on. Now he was sending the ship, with advance notice to the men who had the guns. He was sending war ships and soldiers as well...If there was going to be war it would begin over a boat load of salt pork and crackers... Not for nothing did Captain Fox remark afterward that it seemed very important to Lincoln that South Carolina "should stand before the civilized world as having fired upon bread."

Shelby Foote, author of the The Civil War, concurred, writing "Lincoln had maneuvered the Confederates into the position of having either to back down on their threats or else to fire the first shot of the war. What was worse, in the eyes of the world, that first shot would be fired from the immediate purpose of keeping food from hungry men."