The Lost Cause is an ideology that explains the mindset of primarily white, southerners post-war. It explains how they thought concerning the outcome of the war. The idea was that the Civil War for the south was an inevitable defeat from the start. The South never really had a chance to win due to the overwhelming circumstances and advantages of the North, but since the confederates were loyal to the cause they fought a hopeless struggle to preserve their honor. This unfortunately, resulted in a shattering defeat for the South. The question of why this mindset was born brings up more questions like, “Why did the South feel the need give the blame or fault to a different party?” and “Did the South subconsciously know think they were guilty and in the wrong?” This cause idolizes Robert E. Lee as their pure, wholesome southern gentleman that they posed as the poster boy of the southern campaign. A popular belief based off of this is “ War was lost, Reconciliation Won” which could be interpreted as a way of The South to feel better about the loss. Lost Cause mythology is the main point of focus in Gallagher’s book “Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War.” He highlights this cause in particular to emphasize how Hollywood and pop culture has illustrated to the public its own version of what The Lost Cause is.