Bucktails Civil War Regiment

	PHOTOS:
		Bucktail 1 Bucktail 2 Bucktail 3 Camp 1 Camp 2 Canon Memorial Day Parade Reunion Rifles
	RELATED LINKS:
		Bucktail Reenactment Info Bucktail Resolution Bucktail Web Site Extensive list of official archives/articles about the Bucktails Interview with Co. I, Bucktail Reenactors Group by WPSX Television Pennsylvania in the Civil War Novels about the Bucktails written by William Robertson

The 42nd Pennsylvania Infantry was also known as the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves, as well as the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles. However, that was only their official name. Their popular name that has gone down in history is the “Bucktails.”

They began life in front of the McKean County Courthouse in Smethport on April 24, 1861, where they attached tails of deer to their hats, which gave the regiment its famous name.

After an adventurous trip by foot through the primeval forests, and by raft down the swift Susquehanna River to Harrisburg, they soon found glory in most battles of the Civil War.

The fierceness of their fighting prowess, excellent sharp shooting skills, and tenacity in battle soon propelled the Bucktails into one of the most respected regiments by both the Union and Confederate Armies.

The original Bucktails live on today through relatives and others who are known as the Bucktail Reenactors Group. This group is active in demonstrating the ways of the original Bucktails as historically accurate as possible at local events, yearly reunions, and battle reenactments in early July at Gettysburg, where the original regiment during the three bloody days of July 1-3, 1863, played a pivotal role that defeated the advance of the Confederates into Pennsylvania, and turned the tide of war toward the north and spelled the beginning of the end for the Confederate Rebellion.

Bucktail Group Reenact April 1861 Recruitment in Smethport

On Saturday, April 22, Co. I of the Bucktail Reenactors Regiment dramatized the original recruitment of the famed Bucktail Regiment in front of the McKean County Courthouse in Smethport on April 25, 1861.

Kyle Stetz of Allegheny, NY played Thomas Leiper Kane, the leader of the regiment.
View Photos: Kane 1 | Kane 2

Music from the Bent Brass Band was played during the reenactment. Speeches were given by Wayne Pearson, who played the Honorable N.E. Eldred, and Graham Nannen, who played Smethport’s early pioneer, Byron Hamlin.

Thomas Nobles of Co. I played James Landregan, who was the original enlisted man who cut the deer tail from a nearby meat shop that became the official emblem of the Bucktails.
View Photos: Bucktail

After the mustering in and brief remarks, the group marched down Main Street briefly, much as did the original Bucktails on their way to Camp Curtain near Harrisburg in 1861.
View Photos: March 1