Christian Petenbrink Civil War Military & Pension Records

The links below will take you to copies of Christian Petenbrink's Civil War Pension Records, and other materials related to his regiment. He was a member of Company K, Second Regiment, Potomac Home Brigade. He was severely injured by a Rebel cannon ball while manning an artillery piece in an armored "iron-clad" railroad car on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad at the August 2, 1864 battle of Green Springs Depot, in Virginia. Several of the documents below are pension-related Affidavits regarding the battle, and the resulting injuries to Christian Petenbrink. Some of the file sizes are large, so be patient while they load. If the images appear too large or too small on your screen, use the resize button, or right click and do a "save target as" to download the image to your computer, where you can use alternate software to view the image.

There were two different instances where such armored railroad cars were put out of action by rebel cannon fire, one by a remarkable shot from a distance of about half a mile on July 4, 1864 at the South Branch Bridge Battle, and one from a shot of about 200 yards on August 2, 1864 at the Battle of Green Springs Depot. It seems that Christian Petenbrink was injured in the August 2, 1864 incident.

According to the book "History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5" , the Second Potomac Home Brigade was involved in both battles, so it may be that he was also involved in some capacity at the July 4th engagement, but we may never know that for sure. The 1865 "Cincinnati Lancet & Observer" (see below) does indicate that a detachment of Company K was in the iron-clad that was destroyed at the South Branch Battle.

Page 417 of Lowdermilk's "History of Cumberland states "At Green Spring an iron-clad locomotive and cars, with a small piece of artillery, fell into the hands of the enemy, as also some eighty men in the block-house. The attacking force of probably 2,000 mounted men and a battery of artillery, under Generals Ransom and McCausland."

Information on the July 4 and August 2, 1864 Armored Car Incidents