History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates.

908 FORTY-SECOND REGIMENT-BUCKTAIL. 1861
From the insignia in their hats they were at once recognized and known as
the Bucktails. Authority was given for mustering them into the service as the
Seventeenth (three months') Regiment, and an organization was effected by the
choice of Thomas L. Kane, Colonel. But a Seventeenth Regiment had already
been organized and mustered into service in Philadelphia, and a difficulty arising
as to the acceptance of so large a number from a district containing only a small
population, the organization was not consummated, and Colonel Kane, declining
his commission, was mustered into service on the 13th of May as a private.
In the meantime, other companies had been recruited, and had assembled in
camps, with like expectations, and were similarly disappointed. Roy Stone, a
citizen of Warren county, had recruited a company, in April, composed of a
class of men similar in occupation and experience to those led by Kane. They
bore their own rifles, and dwelt principally upon the head waters of the Alle-.
gheny River. Disappointed in being admitted to the three months' service,
they emained for some time encamped at the Court House in Warren, and
were fed by the citizens. With no authority to provide for them, Governor
Curtin advised them to'disband. But this they were unwilling to do. Tiring
of inactivity, they gladly acceded to a proposition from their captain to-move -
down the Allegheny upon flat-boats to Pittsburg, and thence proceed-tojoin
General M'Clellan:in West Virginia, as an independent corps of sharp-shooters.
They were five days in making the run, being eintertained at the towns along
the river, and receiving many recruits on the way. At Pittsburg they were the
guests of the city, and here Captain Stone received a summons from Governor
Curtin to march to Harrisburg, where the company would be assigned to;the
Reserve Corps. Another company was recruited in Chester county, one in
Perry, one in Clearfield, one in Carbon and two in Tioga.
For some -time after the arrival of the men in camp a regimental organiiation was delayed. The officers of the companies most allied to each other in
taste and trainig, out of which it was proposed to form a rifle regiment having conferred together, and tiring of the delays which still continued, finally
united in presenting the following paper to General M'Call: "The under
signed, captains of companies now in Camp Curtin, present their respectstoMajor General:M'Call, congratulating the army of Pennsylvania upon being;
placed under such a commander. They beg not to be supposed desirous of interferring with Major General M'Call's discretion in expressing a desire tohave
their companies united to form one regiment under the command of Colonel
Thomas L. Kane. Theyare assured that their men are peculiarly qualified to
serve efficiently in-a regiment of rifles under Colonel Kane, being, with fews
exceptions, men of extremely hardy habits and trained from boyhood to the use of
Erms. [Signed.] Captains Philip Holland, Julius Sherwood, GeorgeB. Overton, John A. Eldred, Wm. T. Blanchard, Hugh M'Donald, E. A. rvin, y
Stone and A..:Niles.* An election was:soon ordered, which was held on the
12th of June, with the followingresult: Thomas L. Kane, Colonel; Charles
J. Biddle, ieutenant Colonel, and Roy Stone, Major. Colonel Kane, accordihgly, received his commission bearing date of June 12th; but, though the firSt
choice of his men, he was but a civilian, and believing that selfish ambition
should be subordinated to the public weal, he yielded to a patriotic impulse,:at
that time most rare, though most noble and magnanimous, and resigned his
Patriot and Union, Harrisburg, June 13, 1861.