developing over Ft. Sumter) and report back...." "War, according to Hurlbut, was inevitable, unless the South was allowed to secede." As a result of this report, "Lincoln decided to resupply the embattled fort; if his ships were fired upon, it would be the Confederacy that started the war, not the Union." References Further reading Lash, Jeffrey N., A Politician Turned General: the Civil War Career of Stephen Augustus Hurlbut. Kent, Ohio; London: Kent State University Press, 2003. Sager, Juliet Gilman, and Harry G. Hershenson. Stephen A. Hurlbut, 1815–1882. Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1935. Attribution External links 1815 births 1882 deaths Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina Union Army generals Members of the Illinois House of Representatives People of Illinois in the American Civil War People from Belvidere, Illinois 1848 United States presidential electors 19th-century American diplomats Illinois Whigs Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois Grand Army of the Republic Commanders-in-Chief 19th-century American politicians Ambassadors of the United States to Colombia Ambassadors of the United States to Peru