I don't really want to get involved in all these technical arguments relating to the "first shot" and the legal side of it, but I would like to know in what context the surrender of the Pensacola Navy Yard, in Florida, which was obviously U.S. government property, but forced to surrender when demanded by Floridans, January, 1861, is to be taken? Does that not constitute an act of war?
I think there may have been other incidents of this nature, relating to the surrender of U.S. government property in Southern states, prior to the firing upon Fort Sumter, but I cannot recall them off the top of my head.