Sam,

You make a couple of interesting points that would like to ask about.

First Lincoln is anticipating a war therefore he is preparing to fight, the South was withdrawing by peaceful means yet Lincoln would have none of that.

Lincoln refused to meet with the peace delegation from the South while clearly reinforcing Sumter. I can't put my hands on it at this minute, but I have read a letter where Lincoln clearly states his intention to reinforce and send supplies to Sumter which essentially put the South on high alert. Do you know of such a letter? I’ll start digging through my files a to see if I can locate it.

GP