Re: The Alternative.--Plural.
Sorry David, I hit the keyboards too quickly. I re-read your post about those three forts being the only ones left. My only point is that using unsurrendered forts to trigger a war were not the only tricks Lincoln had up his sleeve. Sending yankee troops to Texas in the wake of its Secession in February 1861 would have started a war regardless of Ft. Sumter or Ft. Pickens.