If the fort were attacked when Lincoln was ostensibly only supplying it with provisions, Northern opinion could be swayed to support an all-out attack on the "disloyal" states.

Asked if she feared being attacked by Congressional conservatives, she said: "I took this job because I want drug users to be recognized as people with a disease."

Gahn says these findingsare consistent with something called the “plant apparency theory, ”which states that the most readily seen plants are those that are mostlikely to be attacked by predators.