"In The Uncivil War, Robert R. Mackey outlines the Southern strategy of waging war across an entire region, measures the Northern response, and explains the outcome." "Complex military issues shaped both the Confederate irregular war and the Union response. Through detailed accounts of Rebel guerrilla, partisan, and raider activities, Mackey strips away romanticized notions of how the "shadow war" was fought, proving instead that irregular warfare was an integral part of Confederate strategy." "Mackey's book demonstrates that the failure of the shadow war can be traced both to poor Confederate command, which allowed irregulars to prey on their own neighbors, and to effective Union countermeasures. As a result, by 1865, the Confederacy had collapsed on both conventional and unconventional fields of conflict."--BOOK JACKET.