In this groundbreaking study, Charles W. Ramsdell explores the causes of the South's defeat in the Civil War. Finding traditional military explanations insufficient, he argues that deficiencies on the homefront were fundamental to the collapse of the Confederacy.

According to Ramsdell, the war raised economic and social problems that the southern people were unprepared to solve. Financially weakened and demoralized, the civilian population could not adequately support its armies, causing the Confederacy to break down from within long before the military situation appeared desperate.