SMETHPORT – A re-enactment Saturday on the courthouse steps
recalled the events of April 25, 1861, when those expert woodsmen
and marksmen of the McKean County Rifles answered President Abraham
Lincoln’s call to defend the Union against the Confederate States
of America.

In his introductory remarks, Smethport Mayor Ross Porter briefly
traced the events leading up to that day, one of the most exciting
in the town’s history.ðActing at the behest of Gov. Andrew Curtin,
Col. Thomas Kane is the first to answer the governor’s call.ðKane
was already familiar with the McKean County area through his lumber
interests, and rode his horse “Old Glencoe,” from Philadelphia to
Smethport to recruit men who were well-known for their shooting
skills and ability to live off the land.

Duringðthis briefðtrip to Smethport, Kane stayed at the former
Bennett House Hotel on West Main Street, currently the site of the
Courtyard Restaurant and the Court of Angels.

On Saturday, the public was invited to have breakfast at the
Courtyard Restaurant before the opening of the program across the
street at the courthouse.

According to Porter, “The air in Smethport is thick with
excitement and activity.ðThe nation is in grave danger.ðThe
Confederate states have seceded.ðThe Union garrison, Fort Sumter,
South Carolina, has been besieged by the Rebels.ðWashington, D.C.
is threatened with attack.”

Recruitment flyers had been posted throughout the
area.ðResponding to the threat posed by the South, woodsmen,
accompanied by their wives and children, gathered at the courthouse
to witness the recruitment and departure of the McKean Rifles,
Porter added.

Members of the audience were invited to sign the muster Saturday
morning. As people stepped forward to sign up, the Bent Brass Band
from Olean, N.Y., played selections.

Kyle Stetz of Allegany, N.Y., in the role of Kane, administered
the oath of enlistment.ð William Blanchard, in the person of
Clarence Walker, a long-time Civil War re-enactor from Potter
County, conducted a brief drill instruction.

Smethport resident Graham Nannen portrayed Byron Hamlin, who was
a friend of Kane.

“This is the first body of men ever collected in McKean County
to perform military service,” he said. “Our country never before
called for your aid to fight her battles.ðTo the gallant colonel
who leads you, I have known long and well; longer and better than
any of you yet have done.ðI can endorse him to you as being in
every way worthy of your confidence.”

Also offering words of encouragement to the recruits was the
Honorable N.B. Eldred of Wayne County, a feeble, elderly gentleman,
played by Wayne Pearson.

A veteran of two wars, Eldred told the recruits that he had full
confidence in their patriotism.ð “It is a painful duty that you
have to perform but I know that you will do it well, ” he
said.ð

James Landregan, a new recruit from Eldred Township, began the
Bucktail legend when he had crossed the street where deer were
hanging at a butcher shop, and cutðoff aðdeer tail and attached it
to his hat. As soon as Kane saw this, he immediately realized the
potential value of this symbol.

Before the men left town, the crowd proposed three cheers: three
for the McKean County Rifles, three for the flagðand another three
for Kane.

As those original recruits marched out of town, they had already
earned the name “Bucktails” by the residents and visitors in
Smethport.

From the courthouse, the new “recruits” marched along State and
Water streets to the Veterans Memorial Bridge on Mechanic Street
for brief remarks from local Civil War author Bill Robertson, who
told about that original trip to Harrisburg.ð

“The Bucktails followed Potato Creek out of town, proceeding to
Emporium and thenðDriftwood with the hopes of meeting a train
there. But since a train was not there, they floated down the
Sinnemahioning Creek on four rafts, one of which crashed later.
From Rattlesnake Falls, it was on to Lock Haven, where they met a
train, but they had to pay for the train ride to Camp Curtin in
Harrisburg.”

At the conclusion of the program, the Rev. John Wesley of St.
Luke’s Episcopal Church in Smethport, read a prayer taken from the
official 1861 Uniform Soldiers’ Prayerbook.ð