Museum's Film Premier "The 154th New York: The East" at St. Bonaventure

MACHIAS — Descendants of members of the 154th New York Volunteer Infantry, a Civil War regiment raised in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties, will hold their 40th Annual Reunion from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 18, at St. Bonaventure University, culminating in the premiere showing of a new educational film on the history of the regiment produced by the Cattaraugus County Museum and Research Library..

The 154th New York — known as the Hardtack Regiment — was raised in the summer of 1862 and participated in many of the great campaigns and battles of the war, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chattanooga, the Atlanta Campaign and Gen. William T. Sherman’s marches through Georgia and the Carolinas. Mark H. Dunkelman, of Providence, R.I., will preside at the reunion, as he has every year since their inception in 1986. Stories and relics of his great-grandfather John Langhans of Ellicottville, who served in the 154th, inspired Dunkelman’s interest and led to his lifelong work as regimental historian. He is the author of six highly regarded books and dozens of articles on various aspects of the 154th’s history, and creator of the renowned mural next to the regiment’s Gettysburg monument. To date he has connected with more than 1,400 fellow descendants of members of the 154th.

“The idea for the reunions came to me after I gave a talk to the Allegany Area Historical Association in 1984. It was the first time I had given a lecture in Cattaraugus County after the publication of my book The Hardtack Regiment in 1981. A number of the attendees were people I had met during my annual research trips to the county in the ‘70s, but some were descendants that I met for the first time. It occurred to me that we descendants could meet on an annual basis like our ancestors did a century before at their annual regimental reunions. In 1986 I put out a call for the first reunion, which was well attended, and we were off and running. Recaps of all of the annual reunions are archived on my website,” explained Dunkelman.

The topic of the reunion program is “Relics of a Regiment.” For the past 50 years, as Dunkelman researched and wrote about the 154th New York’s history, he collected artifacts relating to the regiment. An inventory of the collection is 16 pages long, divided into 15 categories. This year he decided it was time for the artifacts to join the Dunkelman and Winey Collection of the 154th New York at St. Bonaventure University. Newly-retired University Archivist Dennis Frank picked up the items in Providence and delivered them to the university. Much of the memorabilia will be on display in the Friedsam Memorial Library at the reunion. There Dunkelman and Frank will discuss how the collection evolved in conjunction with his work on the regiment’s history.

“This year’s reunion is special in that it’s our 40th annual (we didn’t hold one in 2020 because of Covid) and that it marks the addition of my sizable collection of 154th New York relics to the overall Dunkelman and Winey collection at SBU,” Dunkelman added.

After the program and roll call at the library, attendees will move to the Quick Center for the Arts at 4 p.m. for the premier of a documentary film, ‘The 154th New York: The East,’ produced by the Cattaraugus County Museum and Research Library and made by Museum Curator Brian McClellan and documentary filmmaker John Tomerlin. The film, fourth in a series of educational films produced by the museum with the goal of being available to local teachers, serves as an introduction to the regiment’s first year of service, covering its organization and the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns.

“As a middle school social studies teacher, I find this film valuable in two important ways. First, it brings local history to life for students. It highlights how ordinary men and farmers from our communities, many of whom are buried in local cemeteries, answered the call to serve when our divided nation needed them during the Civil War. By connecting national events to people and places students recognize, the film makes history more meaningful and personal,” said Kathleen Coulter, a seventh grade social studies teacher at Olean Intermediate Middle School who participated in the film project. “Second, the film is organized into manageable segments that help maintain student engagement while providing a thorough historical background. This format allows teachers to easily incorporate the film into their lessons and follow it with meaningful discussions, activities, and critical-thinking questions. The film encourages students to reflect on who these soldiers were, the challenges they faced, and the sacrifices they made, helping them develop a deeper appreciation for both local history and the Civil War.”

Overall, this film does an outstanding job of connecting national history to the local people and places in our community. By telling the story of the 154th New York through the experiences of ordinary men, it helps students see that history happened right here at home,” Coulter added.

The reunion is free and open to the public. Anyone descended from a member of the 154th New York is encouraged to attend. Descendants are asked to bring photographs and relics of their soldier ancestors to be copied and added to the regimental archives. Attendees will receive a souvenir ribbon.

For more information about the reunion, contact Mark Dunkelman by phone or text at (401) 369-0637, or by e-mail at [email protected]. More information about his work, including summaries of previous reunions, can be found at his website, www.HardtackRegiment.com.

For information on the film, contact the Cattaraugus County Museum by email form or by phone 716-353-8200. The Cattaraugus County Museum’s other films can be found on their YouTube channel.