First published in 1958, Ebb Tide tells the story of the Habersham family of Savannah during the Civil War. In her diary and her "Letter Book," Josephine Habersham, tells her own story and that of her three sons; one who fought in Fredericksburg, another who contemplated hiring a substitute to avoid combat, and a third who was just old enough to help defend the coast at Fort McAllister. The diary begins and ends in 1863, the year of Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and the stubborn resistance at Fort Sumter.

In addition to the writings of Josephine Clay Habersham, Spencer Bidwell King Jr. carries the reader back to the beginnings of the family and continues the narrative to the time when Sherman captures Savannah, and the Water Witch sinks in the ebbing tide of the Vernon River, near "Avon," the family mansion at White Bluff.