Destroying conventional historical wisdom, acclaimed military historian Bevin Alexander reveals how the South most definitely could have defeated the North-and how close a Confederate victory came to happening. Alexander shows: -How the Confederacy had its greatest chance to win the war just three months into the fighting-but blew it- How the Confederacy's three most important leaders- President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson- clashed over how to fight the war- How the Confederate army devised-but never fully exploited-a way to negate the Union's huge advantages in manpower and weaponry- How Abraham Lincoln and other Northern leaders understood the Union's vulnerability better than the Confederacy's leaders did How the South Could Have Won the Civil War provides a startling account of how a relatively small number of tactical and strategic mistakes cost the South the war and changed the course of history.