4. Northern aggression caused the war when the South wanted peaceful secession
Following the secession of the first seven states, while others of the South debated their positions, cries for war rang out. Nowhere were they louder than in South Carolina, the first of the seven states to secede. South Carolina demanded the government in Washington abandon the federal military facilities in the state, in particular Fort Sumter, which guarded the approaches to Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter was supported by Fort Moultrie on nearby Sullivan’s Island. On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln used his first inaugural address to announce he had no intention to invade the seceding states. Nor would he interfere with slavery in those states where it already existed. He also announced the federal government would continue to collect import duties in Southern ports and retain military posts where they existed in the seceding states. Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward, attempted to negotiate with southern leaders.
His negotiations were unauthorized by the new President, and in any event unsuccessful. In Charleston, the garrison commander, Major Robert Anderson, abandoned Fort Moultrie and moved his command to the less accessible Fort Sumter. After learning the United States intended to reprovision the garrison by sea, Jefferson Davis ordered the fort to surrender. When Anderson refused and attempted to negotiate further, Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter. The fort suffered bombardment for two days. The surrender of Fort Sumter, as well as the seizure of military property in Missouri, compelled Lincoln to call for volunteers to serve for a period of 90 days, with the expressed intention of reclaiming the seized federal property. It also led several additional states, including Virginia, to consider secession. At that time, Virginia had already debated secession in its legislature and voted against it.