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NEWS RELEASE UPDATE-2ND EDITION

Ronald A. Mosocco, Williamsburg, VA, who recently published the "Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War per the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion," ISBN 0-9641675-9-X, Library of Congress # 94-76315, has been notified by the Literary Awards Committee of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars (MOS&B) that his book has been nominated for the 1996 Douglas Southall Freeman History Award. The award, named in honor of the premier historian of General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, is an annual program that recognizes the best new work in Southern or Confederate History. The MOS&B is a historical, patriotic, educational, and non-political organization composed of male descendants of the Confederate officer corps, members of the Confederate Congress, or the elected or appointed members of the Executive Branch of the Confederate States' government.

"Ronald A. Mosocco's effort is a worthy addition to the literature of the conflict of the American Civil War,"Dr. Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., noted Civil War Historian, Author and frequent lecturer, also appearing on Cable TV's Arts & Entertainment's Civil War Journal, hosted by Danny Glover., etc.

"The Chronological arrangement is specific and well detailed, offering the depth a researcher will appreciate..... Diane Donovan, Book Watch, San Francisco, CA

"This is a wonderful book for your library, whether you are a historian or just a buff. It provides the reader with a quick and easy method to capture those details and check those dates. I recommend it to our readers, James N. Vogler, Jr., Editor-in-Chief, The Confederate Veteran, the Official Journal of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Military Order of the Stars and Bars.

"Civil War mania, with the help of Ken Burns, Shelby Foote and others, has spread to every part of the country and many have found a quiet, grim, utterly magnificient novel called the Killer Angels that puts flesh on ghosts named Lee, Longstreet, Hood and Chamberlain. Ronald A. Mosocco's important new book represents years of careful research accumulation and checking the significant day-by-day activities from 1861 to 1865... Beautifully and securely bound for repeated rereadings, this is a reference book as history should be written. A superb job!," Al Ralston, editor, The Coast Book Review Service, Fullerton, CA

"(Mosocco's Book) is a near must have for the truly interested student of this time period. It is superior to the well known Day by Day Chronology by E.B. Long," Anthony J. O'Connor, President, Northeast Kingdom Civil War Roundtable, Vermont

"This impressive compilation is divided into four sections, providing the reader with such a terrible and wide-spread war this was. Mosocco has provided an important reference work for Civil War Buffs and genealogists as well,".....Joyce Nichols, Le Raconteur, Le Comite' des Archives de la Louisiane, Baton Rouge, LA

"(Mosocco's) Book captures (the) scope of (the) Civil War's impact,"...Lloyd Bockstruck, The Dallas, Texas Morning Star

"Civil War book (is) a factual find,".....Rodney White, The Journal/Weekender, Martinsburg, WV

"New Civil War Chronology (is) perfect for Christmas,".... Becca Bacon Martin, The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas.

"Handy new book makes Civil War research easier...One of the handiest historical research tools to come along in years," by Mike Jones, The American Press, Lake Charles, LA. One of the handiest historical research tools to come along in years, "The Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War" is a quick guide through the massive 128 volume "Official Records" of the War for Southern Independence and much more. The "Official Records" were compiled by the U.S. War Department in the decades after the war, and are often difficult to use, especially for the beginner. This handy book from James River Publications cuts through those organizational problems and lays out the essentials in a day-by-day chronological guide to every campaign, battle, skirmish and promotion and death dates for generals for the whole four years. At the beginning of each year's chronology, there is a contemporary calendar for the year in question. To show how thorough and complete the book is, it even gives a brief summary of our own Southwest Louisiana battle, "The Battle of Calcasieu Pass on May 6th, 1864. Although this battle was important to our local area, it is completely ignored in most histories of the war, even those dealing with Louisiana. However, Mosocco's book covers even what on the grand scale of the war were just minor engagements. Mosocco's book also has a set of the maps from "The Official Military Atlas of the Civil War," including maps of the entire continental United States for each year of the war. Interestingly, even though the maps are official U.S. publications printed each year of the war, they show the boundaries of the Confederate States of America as a separate nation. There are also organizational tables for the Union and Confederate armies for selected major battles. Included are the names of the main commanding generals and the organization by army corps, division, brigade and regiment. There is also a recommended reading list of Mosocco's. Reviewed by Mike Jones, for the American Press, Lake Charles, Louisiana.

"Civil War Buff? Your book collection isn't complete without this book," Jeff Whitfield, The Clayton News/Daily, Jonesboro, GA

"Truly an outstanding piece of research...filling a void in the Civil War literature currently available...It really is the Ultimate (Civil War) Reference Manual,".....Dr. Robert L. Stephens, Associate Professor, Macon, GA

It is the natural question, the one that everybody who picks up "The Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War per the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion," cannot help but ask: How long did it take to do it?. "Like I tell everybody else, it took me longer to do the book than it did to fight the war," Ronald A. Mosocco says with a laugh. "It took me about five years of serious work." Why the amount of time it took Mosocco, a native of Burgettstown, Washington County, Pennsylvania, to produce the Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War is of such immediate interest is because of the book's content. It is literally a day-by-day record of every battle, skirmish, political maneuver, accident and officer to reach the rank of general on either side from the beginning of the war until its end. Actually, the Chronological Tracking begins 4 months before what most Americans think of as the start of the Civil War, the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, SC, April 12, 1861, and ends 6 months after what most Americans consider the end of the war, General Robert E. Lee's surrender to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, VA, April 9, 1865. Events leading up to Fort Sumter include South Carolina's adoption of the ordinance of secession on December 20, 1860, and the seizure of the U.S. arsenal at Charleston, SC, on December 30, 1860. Following those earliest actions came votes on secession in Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, the Arizona Territory and Arkansas. Numerous federal installations also were seized, including Fort Pulaski, GA, Fort Marion, FL, Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, AL, Fort Jackson and Fort St. Phillip, LA, the US arsenal at San Antonio, TX, and Fort Bliss, Fort Mason, Fort Clark, and Fort Chadbourne, TX. Most federal installations are abandoned or surrendered without a fight. But there also were incidents of shots being fired prior to the attack on Fort Sumter. The first shots listed by the Chronological Tracking were fired at Fort Barranacas, FL, on January 8, 1861. That skirmish was followed by South Carolina troops firing on the federal steamship Star of the West, January 9, 1861, and the federal schooner Rhonda H. Shannon on April 3rd, 1861. Likewise, the end of the war was a more gradual affair than Lee's surrender to Grant. Thousands of men died in engagements after Lee's surrender. The last battle was not actually fought until September 23rd, 1865. It was a skirmish between federal troops and Indians who supported the Confederacy at Harney Lake, Oregon. In between the shots at Fort Barrancas and the last shots at Harney Lake Valley, The Chronological Tracking contains information on everything from such world famous battles as Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Bull Run and Antietam to all but forgotten scrapes like Newtonia, Missouri, Bear Creek, Tennessee, and Eel River, California. "People tend to think that the Civil War was comprised of a few major battles and campaigns," says Mosocco. "What I try to point out in the book is that is not really the case. The Civil War was continuous, ongoing, daily fighting that occurred during the entire war." In putting together his book, Mosocco naturally found himself asking certain questions about the war. In light of the many events taking place on a daily basis, he particularly had to wonder if major leaders such as Lee, Grant, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were shaping events or being shaped by them? Was it really a war that was controllable? His answer, Probably not. Mosocco came to the conclusion, too, that there was not much that could have happened to change the results of the war. The agricultural South had little chance against the industrial North from the beginning. Researching the Official Records with its countless descriptions of death and destruction also took something of an emotional toll on Mosocco. He was particularly moved by what happened to the Native Americans during the Civil War. "There really is not much coverage on the fact that at the same time the Civil War is taking place, the Northern troops were trying to subdue the Indian tribes," he says. "Unfortunately, it is not a very pleasant thing that happened. But it did happen and I wanted to reflect that."What happened to a camp of friendly Cheyennes along Sand Creek in the Colorado Territory actually sent Mosocco to bed crying. "I couldn't get over it," Mosocco recalls. "If those reports are true, what they [Union troops] actually did to some of those human beings." The incident occurred November 29th, 1864, when the 1st Colorado Cavalry under the command of Colonel John Chivington swooped down on the Cheyenne village and killed every man, woman and child in sight. "Chivington boasts he just about annihilated the entire tribe, and belittles Captain Silas S. Soule for thanking God that he had killed no Indians. This action will later be condemned by the US Government. The Major ordered to investigate Colonel Chivington's actions acquired sworn testimony of fellow officers and soldiers at the massacre, and if true, the atrocities the Federals committed against these human beings go beyond the scope of reporting in this book, as their actions go beyond barbarism and savagery. Fed up with broken promises and treaties made with the federal government, a number of Indian tribes sides with the South during the Civil War, including the Apache, Arapahoe, Comanche, Kiowa, Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Osage, Seminole, Seneca, Shawnee, and Quapaw. The Choctaw Nation actually declared its adherence to the Southern cause, February 7th, 1861, two months before the attack on Fort Sumter. The last fracas fought in connection with the war at Harney Lake Valley, Oregon, also involved Indians. One Indian, Stand Watee, actually rose to the rank of general in the Confederate army. I think what happened was they didn't consider the Indians as human beings," says Mosocco. "They looked upon them as savages and more or less hunted them down like animals." Reviewed by Mike Sanja, The Tribune-Review, Greensburg, PA

"New book on Civil War chronology gives just the facts...Years from now, Civil War scholars will still be thanking Ronald A. Mosocco...the details makes this reference manual a most exhaustive and detailed book of its kind on the American Civil War...a must for Civil War Libraries.... ," Jim McCloskey, Special Writer, The Sunday News Leader, Staunton, VA

"....Recommended for collections that do not own John S. Bowman's more balanced but less detailed The Civil War Almanac(CH Oct. '83) or E.B. Long's The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac (1977). M.J. Smith, Jr. Tusculum College, Choice, Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, a Division of the American Library Association, Middletown, CT

"The Chronological Tracking....is not only an excellent addition to the ever growing body of literature on that war, but should be on the reading shelf of any serious student of America's bloody and costliest conflict - the Civil War," Robert A. Lynn, Editor, Military, BRAVO/Veterans Outlook, and the U.S. Marine Corps Gazette

"I was totally captured by the unbelievable scope of this publication...this book is nothing short of colossal....How a project of this scope was ever carried through to completion, is only a guess, but surely every student and enthusiast of American history and the Civil War owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Mosocco for this fine and exceptionally useful reference. No Civil War Studies Library can now be considered complete without it," Gary Brenz, The Midwest Book Review, Oregon, Wisconsin

"The American Civil War detailed day-by-day....A coffee table reference book... Like many Civil War buffs, Ron Mosocco of Williamsburg has spent hours poring through records of the War between the States. Then Mosocco took it a step further, compiling his tome. "It took me longer to compile the book than it took the country to fight the war," Mosocco said. Judging by the number of entries in the book, he probably isn't kidding.. It's easy to follow the actions of a particular troop regiment, or the progression of an officer through the ranks. It also enforces the idea that the war was constant, not just a collection of great battles. "This shows the continuity of the war. A lot of us think simply of the major battles, but these men were fighting and dying every day, all over the place." , John Harrington, The Williamsburg, VA Gazette.

"No-Nonsense TV detective Joe Friday would have loved Ronald A. Mosocco's new book" "The Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War." Friday wanted just the facts, and facts are what Mosocco provides in reams in his hot-off-the-presses reference work. Before the whys and hows of history can be capably explored, one must first be clear on the whos, whats and wheres. Mosocco has gleaned the 128-volume Official Records of the War of the Rebellion for such fundamental facts and brought them together in his new book for serious students of the war."I guess I'm a little bit eccentric in my own way. But the Civil War has been a passion with me for a long time." There are other day-by-day accounts of the Civil War. Few delve so deeply into the military action, however. A two sentence entry, dated March 3, 1865 describing action in Faquier County and Northern Virginia is typical: "Federal operations about Warrenton, Bealeton Station, Sulphur Springs, Salem and Centreville, Virgina, and encounters with guerrillas dressed in Union garb. The Union officer [comments] on how the Federal cavalry is misbehaving badly as they pillage and plunder farms and houses along their ride." After reviewing thousands of battle and skirmish reports for his book, Mosocco reached a sad conclusion. "I know they talk about the Civil War [pitting] brother against brother. But it wasn't as civil as we tend to think. A lot of criminal activity took place, particularly in places where there were guerilla warfare, like Arkansas and Missouri," Mosocco asserts."We also tend to glamorize war. You can better fathom what really happened in the Civil War by reading the Official Reports." Mosocco's chronicles also show how the war was a running feud, with death and destruction taking place every day, not just when full-strength armies collided. "When people think about Gettysburg, they think about the battle, but it was a whole campaign. [The Armies] skirmished all the way to [to Gettysburg] and all the way back [to Virginia]. You don't see much reporting on that part of the campaign." Included in the chronicles are summations of another overlooked aspect of the Civil War years is the fighting with the Indian Tribes, as well as the promotion dates of all 1,008 Union and Confederate Generals, descriptions of the deaths of generals and military district maps. Certain to be one of the chronicle's most popular features is its organizational charts of the largest armies before major battles. The fighting forces are broken down clear to the brigade level.. Unit officers--from the captains, in some cases, to the generals, are listed. This is a most exceptional book on the American Civil War that you will be able to use time after time. More so than any other book I have ever reviewed or possessed.," Gary Rhodes, The Freelance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA

"Ronald A. Mosocco's "The Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War," is a large, handsome, and accomplished volume. Meticulously compiled from the official records, the volume lists--in chronological order--nearly every skirmish or battle of note on the land and sea. From South Carolina's adoption of the ordinance of secession to the death of General James Heyward Trapier in December of 1865, it's all here. Complementing the text are period maps of the theaters of conflict and tables of equipment for major units on both sides. An essential collection." Rodney Stevens, The Herald, Columbia, SC

"I feel this long overdue book will be an excellent reference for the beginners as well as the serious researchers of Confederate History," Col. Robert S. Coleman, Commander, Magruder/Ewell Camp No. 99, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Hampton, Newport News, VA

"My compliments to the author, Ronald A. Mosocco. As an amateur Civil War Historian and writer for almost 50 years, I can truly say "this is the book I wish I could have written." I have been looking for ready-reference data on Confederate General Officer appointments and deaths. This volume gives me what I was looking for in such a handy format. Thanks again. Nelson L. Marsh, San Antonio, Texas

"A great source of information!....East to read format/style...Direct and to the point....Excellent job!," Mark Monacelli, Bedminster, NJ.

"Well, the title doesn't just trip off the tongue, but this book, distributed by Login Publishers Consortium, might just be the most complete record of who did what, when, and where during the Civil War. Painstakingly compiled from the Official Records of Units serving in the war, this hefty hardcover lists in chronological order just about every skirmish and battle of note on land and sea. It lists every engagement in the entire 128 volume set of the war's Official Records. From South Carolina's adoption of the ordinance of succession in December of 1860 to the death of Confederate General James Heyward Trapier in December of 1865, Mosocco has created an exhaustive work that should be on the shelf of every serious student of the War between the States. A section of period maps presents the various theaters of conflicts in detail, while another section provides the Tables of Organization and Order of Battle for major units on both sides. Civil War re-enactment and study is serious business in all parts of the nation, as the descendants of soldiers on both sides try to learn from and come to grips with the great schism of our national history. Bookstores who do a significant business in Civil War titles should never be without this one, and libraries should make it a staple of their Civil War collections. As a reference it is probably one of the best there is. Southern Book Trade, Wilmington, NC.

"This is an invaluable resource for all Civil War Buffs,"Lee Jeffries,Downeast Ancestors

"Your book is an excellent reference source of which I will use many times. It is compact and easy to utilize. I have over 300 books in my Civil War Library and I can assure you that your book will be read the most often. When I received the advertisement for your book that I requested, I made about 100 copies and distributed it at my monthly Civil War Roundtable meeting. Also, in our newsletter is an ad about your book, (see the enclosed newsletter from our Civil War Roundtable). I sincerely hope my fellow (Roundtable) members take advantage of this splendid reference manual. Signed...A Very Happy Civil War Buff!, Joseph A. Callahan, Jr. New Jersey.

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