As a war leader, Lincoln employed the style that had served him as a politician—a description of himself, incidentally, that he was not ashamed to accept. He preferred to react to problems and to the circumstances that others had created rather than to originate policies and lay out long-range designs. In candour he would write: “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.” His guiding rule was: “My policy is to have no policy.” It was not that he was unprincipled; rather, he was a practical man, mentally nimble and flexible, and, if ...(100 of 9224 words)