It has been my thought, if Lincoln meant to send "food" to Fort Sumter only, he could have done it at any time. The Confederates were not fooled by what Lincoln said in the press. Fox's plan was a quick movement upon the fort, throwing all his military supplies and men into it.

Another point that caught my attention when he said,

"acting upon some quasi armistice of the late Administration (and of the existence of which the present Administration, up to the time the order was dispatched, had only too vague and uncertain rumors to fix attention), had refused to land the troops."

What???? The U.S. Navy had been sitting off Pensacola from the very first day Flordia troops occupied the Naval Yard and forced part of the Army garrison to move to Fort Pickens; and there they sat for nearly 3 months, niether making a move due to orders on both sides to respect an armistice or truce. A truce known to all the troops at Pensacola and rest of the United States and especially the media. How does Lincoln get away with saying his administration only had a "vague and uncertain rumors to fix attention"? He knowingly broke this arrangement in order to spark a war.

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David Upton