On a first look it was indeed anything but a clever idea to bombard Fort Sumter.
But I´d like to emphasize that Virginia most probably wouldn´t have chosen secession without that call for 75000 volunteers (how understandable and justified those call most probably was), and without Virginia seceding the Confederacy most probably wouldn´t have stood a chance at all.
Hence I thought:
If the Confederates had NOT bombed Fort Sumter,
Lincoln (probably) would NOT have called for volunteers,
hence Virginia would NOT have seceded,
and this would have doomed the secession movement.
Hence: To a secessionist protagonist the idea to bomb Fort Sumter could have seemed to be a splendid idea...
Of course in such a heated atmosphere and with so many fire-eating newspapers around nobody could be expected to keep a cool mind. But just think what could have happened if Lincoln wouldn´t have reacted (or just had waited until Virginia chose sides...) - and Virginia wouldn´t have seceded....
But I am playing the old would-have-should-have-could-have-game....
And I do NOT want to denounce Lincoln!
I believe that with the attack on Ft. Sumter, Virginia was going to secede with or without Lincoln's proclamation.
Once the Virginia Convention's Committee on Federal Relations formulated an ultimatum to the Federal Government during March 1861...an ultimatum that most assuredly would meet with Federal disapproval...the secession mode was in full swing at a convention with decreasing Unionist support. Remaining Unionists were being threatened with physical violence if they did not vote for secession and the Richmond newspapers were printing false reports of Blacks securing government jobs in Washington with the warning that the same thing was going to happen to the Southern states under Lincoln. This was all prior to Lincoln's April 15, 1861 call for the militia. On April 16th the Convention went into secret session with knowledge of Lincoln's callup for Virginia troops. Convention delegate Robert Eden Scott pointed out that the border states had all rejected Lincoln's troop request and still remained in the Union while delegate Wiliam Preston went ahead and proposed a vote on secession. Following Preston's proposal, Jubal Early went on record denouncing secession with a warning that "a great crime was about [to be] perpetuated against the cause of liberty and civilization." The session adjourned until the next day with no vote taken on secession. Governor Letcher's rejection letter to Lincoln was read on the following day, the 17th, to the delegates which led to debate over a motion to allow a state-wide referendum which would have allowed the people to vote for immediate secession or join a conference of border states in May. The motion was defeated which led to former Virginia governor Henry Wise, taking the floor. He pulled a revolver out of his coat, denounced the state leader's failure to pull Virginia out of the Union and threatened the assembled delegates. Pulling a watch out of his pocket he told the Convention:
"I know the fact, as well as I can know it without being present at either the time or place, that there is a probability that blood will be flowing at Harper's Ferry before night. I know the fact that the harbor of Norfolk has been obstructed last night by the sinking of vessels. I know the fact that at this moment a force is on its way to Harper's Ferry to prevent the reinforcement of the Federal troops at that point. I am told it is already being reinforced by 1,000 men from the Black Republican ranks. I know the fact that your Governor has ordered reinforcements there to back our own citizens and to protect our lives and our arms. In the midst of a scene like this, when an attempt is made by our troops to capture the navy yard, and seize the Armory at Harper's Ferry, we are here indulging in foolish debates, the only result of which must be delay, and, perhaps, ruins."
Proceedings of the Virginia State Convention of 1861, Vol. 4, pg. 124
Here you have a former governor who's a current delegate to the Convention revealing that Union property has been destroyed and armed militia at the order of the current Virginia governor Letcher, is enroute to seize Federal installations prior to secession by the convention and prior to ratification of the vote by the people. When delegate John B. Baldwin made comment that he would not vote for secession and that he would advise the people to disobey the orders of Governor Letcher, Henry Wise responded that it was too late to recall the force. Following a few delegate comments that the action by Letcher was a declaration of war against the government or that secession would lead to war, many delegates expressed their resolution that a military response from Washington was now imminent but they were Virginians first and they would go with Virginia. Following the comments of the delegates, Wise asked "for the yeas and nays upon the adoption of the ordinance." It was adopted on the evening of April 17th with 88 yeas and 55 nays. My reading of the proceedings of the 17th indicate that among the delegates there was very little discussion about Lincoln's actual proclamation but that it centered around past perceived wrongs of the federal government and Letcher's militia forces enroute to Harper's Ferry and Gosport Navy Yard. As I previously stated, I believe that Virginia's secession had been in the planning stages from at least the earliest days of Sumter if not before, and that Lincoln's proclamation for troops may have been an added catalyst for Wise, the other dis-Unionists and even some former Unionists turned secessionists, to strengthen their resolve but it was not the main ingredient for her reasons in seceding. My humble 2 cents worth.