Alternate Designations: Bucktails; First Rifles.
Commander: Col. Charles F. Taylor (Feb. 6, 1840-July 2, 1863), killed; Maj. William R. Hartshorne (1839-1905).
Numbers: 349; 7 killed, 39 wounded, 2 missing.
Raised: Tioga, Perry, Cameron, Warren, Carbon, Elk, Chester, McKean, and Clearfield.
Dedicated: Sept. 1890.
Location: Located on Ayres Avenue north of its junction with Sickles Avenue. The location of the monument marks the position of the reserve units on July 2, 1863 after counter attack by Confederate forces. The unit remained here until July 3rd. Monument consists of red westerly granite.
Description: Monument: granite with bronze tablet; Base: granite. Full-length granite sculpture of a “bucktail” infantryman stands on plinth atop three tiered rock base. He is dressed in uniform and holds a rifle tip in his proper left hand (butt end of rifle by his foot) and holds his proper right hand on his hip. The base is decorated with a bronze state tablet and bronze text plaque. Granite monument is a four foot square; three coursed base topped with a statue of a “bucktail” infantryman. Overall height is 11.3 foot. A bronze state seal is on the west face and an inscription tablet on the south side of the base. Flanking markers are apex topped, one foot square.
Fox notes of this regiment, “It was recruited in April, 1861, from the lumbermen of the Pennsylvania forests; the men were strong and hardy, each being a skillful marksman, armed with his own rifle. The regiment was subsequently armed with Sharpe’s rifles, and then again with Spencer seven-shooters. Each man wore a bucktail on his hat, and hence their name; one which became famous throughout the army, because of the extraordinary efficiency of the regiment.”
There is a marker at Gettysburg where Colonel Taylor fell.
Army of the Potomac > Fifth Corps > Third Division > First Brigade