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Re-enacting family history
Staff writer
agillooly@observer-reporter.com
CLAYSVILLE - William McVay, decked out in traditional Civil War garb, had hardly picked up the replica musket when a little boy nearby screeched in anticipation.
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McVay explained to a group of onlookers how to properly load and shoot the firearm Saturday afternoon at the National Pike Festival in Claysville.
The sun had just peaked out from behind a mass of luminous clouds when McVay stood, first pouring gun powder into the musket before slipping in the imitation ammunition before he packed the barrel, squeezed the trigger and fired into the air.
McVay, 66, of Eighty Four, had been a Civil War re-enactor for two years before receiving information about his maternal great-grandfather's role in Union battles.
Under a white tent, McVay was showcasing a plethora of Civil War items on display - with most of the items having belonged to his late great-grandfather, Jacob Dentzer, who hailed from West Finley Township.
McVay is quick to show the memorabilia, which he received from an aunt who didn't know what to do with Dentzer's medal, pictures and pocket Bible.
He said he'd long forgotten the stories told to him about Dentzer's experience in the war, in which he was a chaplain and in which he lost his right arm.
That all changed when he received some of Dentzer's personal items from the war.
"It all came back to me like I had amnesia," he said, grabbing a medal cased in glass that belonged to the late soldier.
"This is one of the first medals ever given out in the country," he said.
McVay then turned his attention to his great-grandfather's worn and yellowed pocket Bible, which still bears an inscription written by one of Dentzer's closest war buddies.
In it, his friend, H.M. Talbot of New York wrote, "Fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life."
McVay said Dentzer carried the Bible faithfully during the battles he fought with the 61st Pennsylvania Volunteers.
During the man's last engagement, the Battle of Opequon Creek, Va., in 1864 - also known as the Third Battle of Winchester - he was shot in the right arm.
McVay knows the story by heart.
After he was hit, blood was squirting out while Talbot made a makeshift tourniquet. His sergeant told him to lie down and play dead until the smoke cleared and medics could care for him.
McVay said that Dentzer was discovered and taken to a field hospital before being transferred to a more well-equipped Philadelphia facility.
He had the lower part of his arm amputated and was fitted with a metal arm prosthetic that was secured above the elbow, which allowed him to eat and even turn the pages of his beloved Bible.
"See the tears on the edges of the pages?" McVay asked. "That's where the pincher (on the arm device) tore them."
McVay said Dentzer married and had 10 children, two of whom died shortly after childbirth. He flipped through the man's hospital and pension records before showing pictures of Dentzer and his family.
In every picture, his right arm is hidden. In one, his right sleeve is tucked into his pants pocket. In another, the arm is inconspicuously hidden behind a hat.
Dentzer, born in 1843, died in 1915 and is buried in Washington Cemetery.
McVay said that while he has amassed many of his great-grandfather's belongings and was able to find everything from hospital records to pension information, there is much more to learn about the man he emulates during these festivals.
He said an aunt has numerous letters written by Dentzer, but, to McVay's disappointment, she's decided to keep them for awhile.
"I'd like to see those," he said. "Just one."
McVay said he feels close to the great-grandfather he never knew and hopes that his oldest son will carry on what has become a family legacy.
"He's pretty much accepted the fact that he's going to get everything," McVay said with a smile.
Staff writer Barbara Miller contributed to this story.
