Maybe.
I'm not so sure that Sumter didn't become the event it was until after the war was over. The Star of the West was fired upon in Charleston Harbor four months before, but few remember.
And I have to admit that I didn't go over Eros' post with a fine tooth comb. I thought it was interesting and added something to the discussion about the supposed Taney arrest. If you have better information, please bring it forward.
ML/NJ
[ml/nj] Maybe.
From South Carolina Governor Pickens:
In a very few days after, another confidential agent, Colonel Lamon, was sent by the President, who informed me that he had come to try and arrange for the removal of the garrison, and, when he returned from the fort, asked if a war vessel could not be allowed to remove them. I replied, that no war vessel could be allowed to enter the harbor on any terms. He said he believed Major Anderson preferred an ordinary steamer, and I agreed that the garrison might be thus removed. He said he hoped to return in a very few days for that purpose.
There are references to this effort of Lamon's and Lincoln's in the Official Records, i.e., documents written before the attack on Fort Sumter, such as a letter from General Beauregard to Major Anderson referring to it.
I'm not so sure that Sumter didn't become the event it was until after the war was over.
A unique response, if I've ever heard one.