The summer of 1862 was the critical time for his thoughts on that matter. Up until the spring of 1862, perhaps even until July, Lincoln continued to think a limited war was possible. By limited, he meant that a Northern victory would result in the North and the South shaking hands and agreeing that it all had been a mistake. Lincoln was far from alone in this. The letters of some of his advisers, and many of his troops in the field, indicate that a majority preferred to think of the war in this way.

Lincoln never revealed the full workings of his mind to a diary, but July 1862 seems to have been the critical month. The more that he examined the conflict, the more Lincoln became convinced that a limited war was impossible: this was a life-or-death struggle between two societies and two ways of life. One would have to prevail, and in so doing it would naturally alter the lifestyles of the other.