This volume deals with the conscription system in the Confederacy and the conflicts which it produced between Confederate and State authorities. It was begun with a view to discovering the effect of conscription upon the course of the war and to making available the experiences of the Confederacy, hard pressed always for fighting men, in raising its armies -- Preface.

The military system of the Confederacy to April, 1862 -- The first conscription act and its reception -- Substitution -- Statutory exemption (1862-1864) -- Statutory-executive exemption -- The fruits of the first conscription act -- The second act and the problems of enforcement -- The courts and conscription -- The dual system -- The dual system (continued) -- Confederate versus state authority in the lower South -- Confederate versus state authority in Georgia and North Carolina -- Confederate versus state authority in the upper South -- The concluding year -- The last days -- Did conscription fail?.