The Downslope is a Civil War drama that Kubrick wrote based on a true story by Civil War historian Shelby Foote. Described as an anti-war film, the story centers on the attempts of Confederate Army Colonel John S. Mosby to settle the score with General Custer, who captured and hanged some of his men. The project has also been referred to as Mosby's Rangers, about a "Southern guerilla force in the American Civil War."