When the American Civil War began in April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln's first act was to institute a naval blockade of the entire southern coastline of the United States, instantly severing the main artery of the cotton trade, the deep South's only economic asset. With no ships of its own or the means to build them, the Confederacy turned to Great Britain, then the world's most prominent shipbuilder, to assist it, albeit covertly, in acquiring the only weapon available, namely a veritable fleet of fast steamers to 'run the blockade'.

Ships from various yards, most notably Dennys and Scotts of Greenock, became indispensable to the southern cause and it is estimated that upwards of one hundred of these blockade runners went into service during the War years. Most were newly-built shallow-draft, iron-hulled paddle steamers capable of sneaking into the southern ports under cover of darkness and bringing in vital arms and ammunition for the Confederate forces, then sailing out with the raw cotton which was paying for them. In addition to the new builds, many pre-existing steamers were also purchased with Confederate funds and then converted into blockade runners. These conversions were invariably carried out under great secrecy, due to the UK government's opposition to supporting the southern cause, and were quickly termed "overhauls" by both the shipyard owners and their workmen.

As this work is inscribed on the reverse "The Overhaul", and seemingly in the artist's hand, it seems plausible that its enigmatic title is a ruse for Napier to employ the term in common use at the time for those steamers which had been adapted for wartime service. The fact that no steam vessel with the rather unlikely name of Overhaul has been traced tends to support this suggestion that Napier, who lived and worked in Glasgow, and would have been familiar with all the local parlance, simply titled his painting of this smart barque-rigged paddler to reflect her recent conversion. It is also possible that, by the time she slipped out of the Clyde in her new guise, she may still not have been renamed although she was nevertheless proud to be shown wearing her new Confederate colours.