SMETHPORT – The rain Saturday morning failed to dampen the
enthusiasm of the people who attended the re-enactment of the birth
of the famed Civil WarðBucktailsð145 years agoðduring the
regiment’s departure for Harrisburg, where they joined Union forces
at the behest of President Abraham Lincoln.
Following a breakfast for re-enactors and the public at the
Court of Angels Restaurant, the site of the former Bennett House
Hotel, the program moved acrossðWest MainðStreet to the courthouse
steps, where SmethportðMayor Ross Porter addressed the
crowd,ðrecalling what life was like in town in April 1861.ð
“The borough is thick with excitement,” said Porter, a high
school teacher and historian. “The muddy streets are filled with
all kinds of activity. Men on horseback and carriages have
converged on Smethport and are moving quickly up and won the rutted
streets. The Bennett House and the Astor House Hotel are filled
beyond capacity as young men and their families pour into
town.”
After the confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln
issued a call for 75,000 volunteers for the Union cause.
With the news of this attack on a northern fort in a southern
harbor, Thomas Kane of Philadelphia at once contacted Gov. Andrew
Curtain that he would recruit a company of volunteers from McKean
County, who were known for their woodsmen’s skills, expertð
marksmanship,ðdeep resolve and unlimited stamina.
Late on the evening of April 16, just four days after the firing
on Fort Sumter, Kane arrived in Smethport and set up his
headquarters at the Bennett House. Not wasting any time on his
mission,ðKane met the next morning with J. B. Oviatt, a local
printer, and commissioned him to print the
“VolunteerðRifles-Marksmen Wanted” recruitment posters that would
be circulated throughout the county, inviting recruits to come
toðSmethport and enlist for the defense of the nation’s
capital.
During the week of April 18-25, men arrived at the county seat
and joined what was to become Company I/The McKean Rifles.
Kyle Stetz, a re-enactor from Allegany, N.Y., who portrayed
Kane, told the spectators, “I’m sorry that on my first visit to
northwestern Pennsylvania, I must recruit boys to go to war, but
the men up here are used to handling weapons.”
Before long, the young men were asked to step forward and sign
the muster books. Since some of them were unable to write,ðthey
asked others to complete this task for them.
While thisðwas going on, Olean’s Bent Brass Band, seated under
theðporch roof of the courthouse, played patriotic tunes.
When James Landregan, portrayed by Tom Nobles, stepped forth to
sign the muster book, Kane noticed that he had a buck’s tail
attached to his hat, and inquired about it.ðOnce Kane
heardðthatðLandregan had cut it from a deer hanging at a nearby
butcher shop, Kane liked this idea so much that he orderedðeach
recruitðto cut a piece of the deer’s hide and attachðit to their
hats.
Kane administered the oath of enlistment to the men before Lt.
WilliamðBlanchard, played by Clarence Walker, led the men through
some rudimentary drills.
Graham Nannen, in the role of Byron Hamlin, a Smethport
businessman and financier,ðspoke briefly to the recruits.
He said, “Fellow citizens: you are about to part from us for, as
we fondly hope, a brief period, to do duty in the ranks of the
country. This is the first body of men ever collected in McKean
County to perform military service. I need not say to you that we
shall carefully follow you in your movement.ðWe feel a pride in you
as the sons of McKean, and confidently believe our hopes in your
patriotism and courage will never be disappointed.”
Wayne County Judge N.E. Eldred, in the person ofðWayne
Pearson,ðalso spokeðto the volunteers.ðA feeble man at the time,
Eldred said that health problems were more likely to cause their
deaths than rifle shots.
And then, as if they weren’t motivated by the music, speeches
and urge to fight the Rebels, the recruits broke out with a tiger
yell and three cheers each for the McKean County Rifles, Kane, and
the Stars and Stripes.
They then descended the courthouse steps, andðaccompanied by
Kane on Shera-Revenue, an 18-year-old quarterhorse owned by Lori
Gideon, marched to the Veterans Memorial Bridge on Mechanic
Street.ð
There, Bill Robertson, a local Civil War historian and one of
the re-enactors, recounted the Bucktails’ journey to Harrisburg,
how they fought with gallantry at the first Union victory of the
war and continued their remarkable record throughout the War
Between the States.
In closing comments for theðre-enactment, which is to become an
annual event,ðPorter noted how Kane recruited about 700 men, enough
to fill seven companies.ðThese men came from Tioga, Perry, Warren,
Carbon, Elk, Chester, McKean and Clearfield counties.
