When Duke Center author William P. Robertson sells books at festivals or events, he’s used to being questioned about ghosts. Lately, the spooks about which Robertson writes have taken a backseat to his historical fiction on the Civil War regiment The Bucktails.
The Bucktails, formed in 1861 in McKean County, are Pennsylvania’s most famous unit from the Civil War. The volunteers were known for the buck’s tail worn in their hat, a symbol of their marksmanship.
Robertson’s 70th book was just released — the second edition of his sixth Bucktail novel The Bucktails at The Devil’s Den. That and two other Bucktails books have been out of print for a number of years.
“The book has been totally revamped with a new cover, nicer maps, historic photos from the Library of Congress, and revised text,” Robertson said. “I found it necessary to re-release it, because the first four Bucktail novels that are still in print have suddenly become popular again.”
The book series began in the late 1990s with Robertson and David Rimer working together.
“David’s daughter suggested we send it to White Mane Publishing,” Robertson said, explaining they publish Civil War books and are big on Pennsylvania history.
The first book “Hayfoot, Strawfoot: The Bucktail Recruits” was published in 2001. “It has been used in school districts across Pennsylvania and our home schoolers really like it a lot,” Robertson said.
That and others published by White Mane are being sought after by customers, but are out of print. So Robertson pulled out the story and started over again, editing, adding and refining the story.
“After I started working on the second printing, I found there were a lot more resources available to authors now, so I was able to add stuff to the new book,” he said. For example, many photos were brought into the public domain through the Library of Congress, and were added to the book.
“I was able to add a bit more humor to the book, punch up a lot of the battle scenes more, make the villain more villainous,” Robertson said. He didn’t return to White Mane Publishing, but went with a PAD publisher to get them out when (customers) were still interested.”
For the second edition, the cover art was done by David Cox, who does the art for many of Robertson’s works.
“I was able to add to the battle scenes. I went back in and read the battle again from the primary sources,” he said. “The main source I used was the ‘History of the Bucktails.’ I was able to read it more carefully and make sure it was true to history. When we originally did these books our primary purpose was to make sure we had the history correct.
“By using the ‘History of the Bucktails,’ we knew what they did day by day,” Robertson said. The book was written by O.R. Howard Thomson and William Rauch.
“Rauch was actually a Bucktail. He apparently took notes as he was going through these campaigns so he could tell you what happened,” Robertson said.
Rimer had co-written the book with Robertson, but Robertson did the second edition on his own.
“I couldn’t have done the original without him. He added all these historical tidbits. He made sure it was all put together,” Robertson said. “He’s a top notch technical writer. Without his help these books wouldn’t have been popular.”
And the books are popular, he explained.
“At the book signings I do, I have different people say how much they like the books,” the author said. “The fathers who liked the books so much when they were kids are buying them for their kids.”
He plans to revamp the other books published under White Mane as well.
