Chapter 120: South Carolina demands surrender of the Charleston forts. 

On December 21 Governor Francis Pickens delivers an ultimatum to Buchanan demanding that all federally owned property in South Carolina be transferred to state control – including the customs house, post office, armory and forts in Charleston. The President responds with uncharacteristic temerity:

If South Carolina should attack any of these forts, she will then become the
assailant in a war against the United States.

Jefferson Davis along with other military men tell Pickens to back off given that the South has not even started to prepare for a war.