Offers a chronological account of the Civil War, reexamines theories for the South's defeat, and analyzes Confederate and Union military strategy.

Includes index.

Part I : Prologue --Historians and the Civil War -- Part II : Physical and moral factors -- Military performance and possibilities -- The impact of the blockade -- Southern nationalism -- Religion and the chosen people -- Part III : Military stalemate and internal problems -- First blood -- Trial by battle -- The politics of dreams -- The Union Navy and combined operations -- State rights and the Confederate war effort -- Union concentration in time and space -- The battle is the Lord's -- Part IV : The dissolution of military power and public will : the South reconciles itself to defeat -- The last campaigns -- God, guilt, and the Confederacy in collapse -- Coming to terms with slavery -- State rights, white supremacy, honor, and Southern victory -- Part V : Epilogue -- Why the South lost -- Appendix I : The politics of local defense : Owsley's state-rights thesis -- Appendix II : Attack and die : Confederate casualties and war effort. pt. I. Prologue: Historians and the Civil War -- pt. II. Physical and Moral Factors : -- Military performance and possibilities -- The impact of the blockade -- Southern nationalism -- Religion and the chosen people -- pt. III. Military Stalemate and Internal Problems : -- First blood -- Trial by battle -- The politics of dreams -- The union navy and combined operations -- State rights and the confederate war effort -- Union concentration in time and space -- The battle is the Lord's -- pt. IV. The Dissolution of Military Power and Public Will : -- The South Reconciles Itself to Defeat -- The last campaigns -- God, guilt, and the confederacy in collapse -- Coming to terms with slavery -- State rights, white supremacy, honor, and southern victory -- pt. V. Epilogue: Why the South lost -- Appendix I: The politics of local defense: Owsley's state-rights thesis -- Appendix II: Attack and die: confederate casualties and ward effort.