I disagree with the characterization of Lincoln as “humble.” People of great intellect are never really humble. For example, Lincoln was once asked about why he almost never read newspaper accounts of the war. His answer was along the lines of “Why should I? I know more than they do.”
I think that in Lincoln’s case the humble bit was a clever political ploy.
Sounds to me like he was just telling the truth. He WOULD know more about the war than the press.
I disagree that “people of great intellect” are “never really humble.” I think intellects have their fair share of pompous asses and salt of the earth people just like every other group or category of folks out there.