PART II: Months of double dealing and deliberate misrepresentation preceded the first shot at Sumter—none of which PragerU bothers to mention. Buchanan gave South Carolina an informal pledge to preserve the status quo in Charleston Harbor and not move troops from Fort Moultrie. When Anderson shifted his garrison to Sumter on the night of December 26, SC negotiators were appalled. Secretary of War John B. Floyd, who had favored a hands-off policy, resigned, saying the distrust could only lead to war, as Federal assurances were now meaningless. The pattern continued under Lincoln. Governor Pickens granted Gustavus Fox access to Sumter after Fox assured him the visit was for peaceful purposes connected to possible abandonment; Fox returned with a detailed assessment of the garrison’s supplies and the feasibility of a night relief. Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln’s personal friend and special agent, was likewise allowed to meet Anderson and Pickens under diplomatic cover and left both with the clear impression that evacuation was imminent. Lincoln himself was reported to have told William Cabell Rives that if Virginia stayed in the Union he would abandon Sumter—an offer later echoed in talks with Virginia convention delegates. Seward spent weeks privately signaling Confederate commissioners that the fort would be given up, while Alexander Stephens publicly stated on March 21 in his so-called "Cornerstone Speech" that Sumter would soon be abandoned. No record shows Lincoln was unaware of Seward’s contacts, and the cumulative effect of these conflicting assurances left Governor Pickens with no reliable way to judge whether the April notice of “provisions only” meant food or the opening of a reinforcement effort. PragerU’s video erases every one of these steps and then presents the bombardment as an unprompted Confederate choice rather than the product of repeated broken understandings. Now do you see why they want to pretend 3 months didn't exist?