The Lincoln Administration didn't take a single hostile action towards the south until they fired on Sumter. Jefferson Davis is the man you should be blaming it on, not Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln Administration didn't take a single hostile action towards the south until they fired on Sumter. That was the excuse for sure. Always did sound like a Gulf of Tolkin incident to me. So who knows?
So far, it appears the Walter Williams side has the edge in facts, or at least the lack of prosecution to prove him wrong.