
The Thirteenth Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment, also known as the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, Kane’s Rifles, or simply the “Bucktails,” was a volunteer infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was a part of the famed Pennsylvania Reserve division in the Army of the Potomac for much of the early and middle parts of the war, and served in the Eastern Theater in a number of important battles, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.
The “Rifles” designation was a holdover from the days when soldiers who carried rifled weapons were a special outfit, and the Bucktails carried breech-loading Model 1859 Sharps Rifles, normally only issued to sharpshooters.
Driftwood is located in southern Cameron County at 41°20′20″N 78°8′8″W at the confluence of the Bennett Branch and the Driftwood Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek, an east-flowing tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River. The community is at the bottom of a gorge carved 1,200 feet (370 m) deep or more into the Allegheny Plateau by the creek and its branches.
Pennsylvania Route 120 passes through Driftwood, following the Driftwood Branch north (upstream) 18 miles (29 km) to Emporium, the Cameron County seat, and following Sinnemahoning Creek and the West Branch of the Susquehanna east (downstream) 27 miles (43 km) to Renovo. Pennsylvania Route 555 leads west from Driftwood up the Bennett Branch 25 miles (40 km) to Weedville.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough of Driftwood has a total area of 2.5 square miles (6.6 km2), of which 2.5 square miles (6.4 km2) is land and 0.08 square miles (0.2 km2), or 2.66%, is water.