Did Lincoln do everything humanely possible to avoid war or did he give into fanaticism? The Kings or Europe in the middle ages had rules established by Catholicism under a quasi federation with rules of engagement. For this the wars ended when the treasury was emptied of gold, thus determining the loser under the law of Appealing to Heaven. In this way no war in those Kingdoms ever had the death toll as high as this lawyer had with dealings in the southern rebellion since when he did run out of gold, he appealed to the money changers not heaven .