re: #256 LudwigVanQuixote

The Unioni fired on fort Sumter? Really? How exactly did the Union start it?

The Union entered Virginia territory and formally (declared) started the War.

The conflict over Sumter wasn’t as clear cut being a federal installation in South Carolina. The States (even in the north) did not recognize federal powers like we do today. The Civil war was one of the things that solidified the Federal role over States.

I say Lincoln was correct but that didn’t mean it was all that legally clear cut to march the Union armies over the Virginia border in the 1860s.

Looking back from today it is all very clear but don’t be guilty of presentism in your understanding of the war and how people felt about it or justified it in legal terms.