For the second year in a row, the Crook Farm Country Fair will
feature members of the Bucktail Regiment Company I Civil War
re-enactors who will be camping at the farm Saturday and
Sunday.

Members of the group will be on hand to show visitors their
equipment which includes weapons, cooking gear, wool uniforms and
hats and their general enthusiasm for telling stories of how the
Bucktail Regiment got their name as well as talk about the many
skirmishes they faced during the war.

“We try to keep it as authentic as possible,” said Clarence
Walker of Wharton. He has been a member off and on since 1975. “We
use iron skillets and even drink cowboy coffee.”

Walker explained that cowboy coffee is the type made without a
filter.

“We have a lot of fun,” he added. “It’s the history of the Civil
War. I have been a nut (about it) ever since I was in school.”

Walker told a brief history of how the Bucktail Regiment became
a reality. The book, “History of the Bucktails,” by O.R. Howard
Johnson and William H. Rauch, original story in 1906, reprinted in
1988, helped fill in the story a little.

Walker said after the Union loss at Fort Sumter, S.C., in 1861,
Thomas Leiper Kane offered his services to raise an army in
Pennsylvania. He sent a telegraph to Gov. Andrew Gregg Curtin.

While waiting for response, and hearing that President Abraham
Lincoln was asking for 75,000 volunteers, Kane wrote again offering
his services and this time, he copied the same letter to
Harrisburg.

He was told by the governor’s office to be ready in one
telegraphed response then received another saying that the Union
was looking for infantry and riflemen – not cavalry.

Knowing the type of enlistments he may find in McKean and Elk
counties, Kane traveled to Smethport and set up a recruiting
command center. He was counting on expert marksmen.

One enlistee, after volunteering his services, saw a butchered
deer and in a butcher shop nearby. He walked over and cut the tail
off and placed it in his hat.

His name was James Landregan.

Kane thought this to be a good insignia and several other
enlisted men took shreds of the same hide and placed them in their
caps.

While Walker told the story, another member of the re-enactors,
Larry Fox of Bradford, would help with more information. Also at
the interview is Jackie Walker, Clarence Walker’s wife, who has
been a part of his experiences as a re-enactor along with two sons
and two grandsons.

Walker and Fox excitedly talked about various accomplishments of
the Bucktails and what they enjoy most about being members of the
group of re-enactors.

“It’s got to be something you really want to do,” said Fox of
being a member of the group. “You have to want to keep history
alive.

“When you go into battle, you really feel it,” he said of the
different stages of re-enactments he has participated in. “You are
marching and the kids are playing the fife and drum – I’m getting
goose bumps now – it’s just something you have to experience.”

For the Crook Farm Fair, the re-enactors will be camping on the
grounds Saturday and Sunday and will be on hand both days to talk
with those wishing to know more history.

They will be able to act out skirmishes if they have enough
members on hand and will be able to describe weapons and gear used.
They will also be able to show marching maneuvers.

The group is looking for new volunteers and the fair is an
opportunity to see what they are all about while visiting the Crook
Farm Fair.

Alongside the re-enactors will be Howard Blumenthal and Ed
Hanson playing music from that time period to enhance their
presence.

The fair will include opportunities to explore the farm through
educational tours both days from 1 to 2 p.m., a corn shucking
contest for children under the age of 12 will be held both days
from 1 to 2 p.m. as well, with demonstrations to be held on
quilting, chair caning, weaving and spinning among other
opportunities.

Also on hand will be musical concerts, an apple pie eating
contest, and a chicken or rib barbecue will be available on
Saturday.

Craft vendors with homemade wares including soups, lotions,
creams, jewelry, lamps and candleholders will also be at the
fair.

The fair is in its 27th year and is put on by the Bradford
Landmark Society.