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The Union commander, Major Anderson, evacuated the fort, the Confederates occupied it, and Lincoln took this as an act of rebellion.

He could not actually declare war, and at that time only the Senate was expected to have this responsibility. But he called for volunteer troops to put down a 'rebellion'. Four slave-states, which had been undecided, then voted to join the Confederacy.

The Confederate Congress stated in May of 1861 that the Confederacy and the US were in a state of war. A US Supreme Court decision in 1862, stated that a state of war existed between the states when President Lincoln convened Congress to ask for funds for troops and supplies. This happened in early July, 1861.

As an aside, Major Anderson had been one of Confederate General PT Beauregard's favorite instructor at West Point.

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9y ago

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