Johnson, Wallace W. "About the Bucktails. The Famous Regiment of Pennsylvania Riflemen. The Hardy Woodsmen...Their Cool and Steady Conduct Under Fire...Up the Shenandoah...."  National Tribune, January 7, 1886

The question as to who recaptured DeGress’s battery, or what troops first unfurled their flag over Columbia, will probably never be settled until the Recording Angel proclaims the secret to all the world. We do not presume that posterity will go into comvulsions over the matter, yet it’s a mighty interesting subject to the boys who were there and who know all about it. So good Mr. Editor, don’t be a clam, but tell us truly about it. I shall not lose much whichever way it turns out, having hedged on my previous wagers every time I have read a new version of the affair.

In one of your recent isues was the following startling conundrum: "Who spilled the most gore?" and then, instead of giving it up or letting somebody else give it up as Lew Dockstader, the famous "end-man" would have done, the interlocuter wanders off into a dissertation on the losses sustained by some of the famous regiments of the war; but what that has to do with the amount of gore spilled by those regiments is one of those things that no fellow can find out. For instance, take the right wing of our army at Fredericksburg, which they were hurled in almost solid masses against the rebel intrenchments. As the enemy was shielded by stout breastworks, not even once having their position uncovered so as to be in point blank range of our men, it would be ridiculous to suppose that the blood spilled by the Union troops was at all commensurate with the losses sustained by them.

At the Battle of New Orleans "Old Hickory" fighting behind his crude breastworks, inflicted a loss of about 2,000 men, killed and wounded, on the British army, while General Jackson’s loss was 6 killed and a very few wounded. Surely the British Regulars who fought at New Orleans could not crow much over the amount of gore spilled by them, yet they were all good soldiers, and met their fate like brave men.

Now, I am going to do a very rash thing. I am going to file my answer to that gory conundrum by giving an opinion, based on what I saw and have read since the war,and that is that the old Pennsylvania Bucktails---13^th Pa Reserve Corps---spilled more gore than any other regiment in the United States service during the war. I know I am treading on the corns of a great many crack regiments, but I can’t afford to let such a momentous a question go thundering down the ages unheeded, and I opine that by the time it is definitely established who retook DeGress’s battery and whose flag first kissed the Southern breeze at Columbia, my claim will be so fortified that it will prove difficult to unsettle.

The celebrated Bucktail Regiment was made up from among the hunters, trappers, and lumbermen of the mountainous and heavy-timber districts of Pennsylvania. They were among the best and hardiest woodsmen in the world, and were probably the most efficient skirmishers in the army. Their first lesson in life was with the rifle. In response to the President’s call for volunteers, they assembled at Camp Curtin with their hunting rifles, but on account of the difference in calibers they soon exchanged their guns for Springfield rifles; these they soon exchanged for the breechloading Sharp’s rifle, and again in the summer of 1862 they exchanged their Sharp’s rifles for Spencer rifles, which, in the hands of a cool, calculating marksman, was certainly a very destructive weapon, a fact that the famous "First Rifles of Pennsylvania" demonstrated on such fields as Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, South Mountain, Antietam, Second Bull Run, Cahrles City Crossroads, Gainesville, Mechanicsville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, etc.

On the 12^th of June, 1861, the organization of the regiment was completed, and Thomas L. Kane—brother of the famous Artic Explorer. Elisha Kent Kane—was elected Colonel; but anxious only for the best interest of the regiment and "the cause", and feeling that it required an experienced leader to command a regiment organized for special service, he modestly declined and requested General Scott to select an officer from the Regular Army who was familiar with war experiences on the frontier and who would be competent to drill and discipline this fine body of marksmen. Col. Charles J. Biddle was, upon the recommendation of General Scott, chosen; Kane resigning the Colonelcy in Biddle’s favor and accepting a position as Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. Col. Biddle remained in command of the regiment till Decemebr, 1861, when he resigned, and Kane, who had …..himself diligently to skirmish tactics, took command. The proficiency of the regiment was due in large measure to the discipline of Col Biddle and to the drilling tactics of Lieut.-Col Kane. In the Autumn of 1861 the writer frequently witnessed the regiment going through skirmish drill to the sound of the bugle. The earnestness with which the men entered into their work, added to their well known skill with their rifles, made it evident that they would render a good account of thenselves whenever opportunity offered.

In the spring of 1862 Lieut.-Col Kane, with four companies of the Bucktails was oprdered to accompany the cavalry on an expedition into the Shenandoah valley, (being the advance of Shield’s Division) to try and intercept Stonewall Jackson. In 12 day, without tents, or blankets, or subsistence, except such as they foraged, after having consumed the rations they started with in their haversacks, they mad a forced march of over 400 miles. They were the only infantry that kept up with the cavalry. On June 6, ’62, the 1^st New Jersey Cavalry ran into an ambuscade at Harrisonburg, Va., and was badly used up. Its Colonel (Wyndham) being captured in the melee. The Bucktails were at once hurried forward to develop the enemy’s line, reported to be advancing in strong force. Col. Kane darted into the woods with 105 men at his back, and at once felt the Southeners, who were advancing under the immediate command of Gen. Geo. H. Stewart, their brigade commander, and under the personal direction of Gens. Ewing and Ashby.

The 58^th and 44^th Va. And 1^st Md. (rebel) were soon engaged in a deadly contest with the Bucktails. "The lay o’ the land" was well adapted to the peculiar tactics of the riflemen, who gave their erring brethren such a withering reception that they fell back in considerable disorder. Again the Confederates advanced to the attack, the noted Ashby and Stewart both urging their men forward. Kane, being wounded, directed his men to prop him against a tree, from which position he gave his orders. The rebel line recoiled again before the unerring aim of the Pennsylvania riflemen, who brought down a man nearly evry shot, and for a time the field seemed lost to the Confederates; but they had by this time discovered that the little handful of troops who they were contending with seemed to be "going it alone," and were not only not receiving any re-enforcements, but their numbers were growing less under the crushing fire of the musketry from the overwhelming force against which they were so valiantly striving.

Gens Stewart and Ashby, placing themselves at the head of the attacking force, and calling on their men to follow, made another dash at the thin blue line. The Bucktails fought like demons---their deadly rifles doing fearful execution. Kane is again wounded; still, he directs the fight. His men nearly surrounded fight on; from behind every rock and tree, like a venomous cat, a rifle spits the unerring bullet that goes straight to its mark. Even the wounded Bucktails use their rifles with deadly effect. The hot blood of the southerners is a fever heat; they only see flashes of fire and puffs of smoke to shoot at, the breechloading guns of the Pennsylvanians allowing them to keep so close to cover that the southerners see only the deadly effect of their rifles; and so rapid is the fire of the Bucktails when the rebels press them close, they seem as if by magic to have trebled their numbers.

General Ashby, scorning to ask men to go where he is afraid to lead, places himself in the very front rank, and calling on his men to follow, meets his death at the head of command by the rifle of one of the wounded and dying Bucktails, who by a supreme effort, raises his rifle, shoots the rebel chief, and then falls back dead. In the death of General Ashby the Confederates lost one of their ablest generals. By this time the Bucktails find themselves in the liveliest kind of hornet’s nest, the enemy being in overwhelming force on both flanks as well as in front. Under orders from Col. Kane to scatter, they retreat, leaving 50 (out of 106) of heir men on the ground, including their gallant commander, Col. Kane, and Capt. Fred. Taylor. The latter was the brother of Bayard Taylor, a traveler and author.

The Confederate loss in this sanguinary contest was over 500 men in killed and wounded, who fell before the rifles of the gallant Bucktails. The death of Gen. Ashby was a great loss to the Confederacy, and was sincerely mourned by the Army of Northern Virginia. For his gallantry, Lieut.-Col. Kane was commissioned a Brigadier General, and afterward took command of a brigade in the Twelfth Corps. Capt. Fred Taylor, after the death of Col. Hugh NcNeil, at the head of the Bucktail regiment at Antietam, was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment, and he, too, died at the head of the regiment in that whirlpool of death---Gettysburg.

Now, I am going to "rest my case" on this one contest by only four companies of the regiment until my claim is disputed. The brave riflemen could well afford to not count this engagement at all, and still compete (with a good chance of winning) for first among regiments who immortalized themselves during the war; and yet, if they had never fought another battle, their record made on this occasion would have been glory enough. Wherever the Army of the Potomac went the crack of the Bucktail rifles could be heard making a road for other troops to follow. I am ready to admit that they had better weapons than most regiments in the service, but a clumsy rifle in the hands of a skilled marksman is more effective than the most approved rifle in the hands of an unskillful marksman. The Bucktails wee qualified, off-hand marksmen before the war; their drilling and discipline, of course, added to their effectiveness. They seemed to thoroughly understand the value of close, careful, low shooting; and the aiming of their rifles, along whose barrels their quick, trained glance sighted an object, was almost sure to count.

Wallace W. Johnson, Pennsylvania Reserve Post , No 191, Dept of PA, GAR