GOS is still the first book of the series. With the second book (I think it was "How Few Remain"), the outcome of a sovereign Confederacy in GOS is referred to, but the time-traveling Afrikaners had been quietly replaced by Lee's lost orders as having led to a victorious South. My impression is that Turtledove had gotten flak from Confederacy buffs who objected to the need for foreign help in a South-wins scenario.