You have more knowledge than I ever did or will on this. From all I remember reading, it was Beauregard's decision to make because he was the one who had his eye on the situation. It's interesting because this does say something that I've not seen before. There could have been a different route to the whole thing had it started sooner. Could Davis and the gang have been thinking Lincoln may have made a difference? Is that why they waited? They had taken the arsenals and were pretty much as ready as they were in April to go ahead had this been decided earlier. Gotta get a copy of Davis memoirs and see if anything is in it that refers to this.

Pam