OK lets look at the time line(s) , january 10 , 1861 Confederate batteries on Morris island fire on Star of the West , a union ship trying to resupply Fort Sumter . When union forces were in route to resupply the fort a second time and SURRENDER HAD BEEN TURNED DOWN by the union at least TWICE the fort was fired on around april 12 , 1861 . BTW the ships comming were armed this time old Abe couldn't abandon the Fort it would look bad.
But don't forget that union forces first fired on Confederate forces near Fort Barrancas near Pensacola Fl. on january 8.1861 Hey isn't that before either time that shots were fired by Confederates ? and wasn't the Confederates in Fl. from Alabama not South Carolina ?
Time line ? Facts ? QUITE !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Carlos_de_BarrancasCivil War
Sketch showing 1861 harbor defenses at entrance to
Pensacola Bay. The town of
Warrington (shown east of
Fort Barrancas) was moved north of Bayou Grande in the 1930s to provide land for
Naval Air Station Pensacola.In 1861, during the
American Civil War, there was a company of 50 U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Barrancas, under the command of
John H. Winder. On January 8, Florida state troops under Colonel William Henry Chase demanded that the federal troops surrender the fort, which was met by
warning shots meant to repel the militia. As Winder was not present (and would later be promoted to General in the Confederate Army), Lieutenant
Adam J. Slemmer was acting commander. Lt Slemmer knew that
Fort Pickens was easier to defend, so he spiked the guns at Barrancas, loaded ammunition and supplies on a
flatboat, and moved his company across the bay to Fort Pickens which was held by the Union throughout the Civil War.
Confederate soldiers from
Alabama,
Louisiana, and
Mississippi were then stationed at Fort Barrancas. While a small company of soldiers could man the fort successfully, additional sand batteries were constructed along the coast, and operated by these soldiers. General
Braxton Bragg took command of Confederate Pensacola on March 11, 1861, and continued work on the batteries. On October 9, a Confederate force of 1000 troops landed east of Fort Pickens, but was repelled by Union forces.
Fort McRee and Fort Barrancas exchanged heavy cannon fire with Fort Pickens on November 22–23, 1861 and January 1, 1862. However, in May 1862, after hearing that the Union Army had taken
New Orleans, Confederate troops abandoned Pensacola.