The following is quoted from the 1906 book "History of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania" regarding the Second Regiment, Maryland Potomac Home Brigade:
"While, as a matter of course, this was a Maryland organization, nevertheless Company K bore upon its muster rolls the names of a considerable number of Somerset county men. These were mostly from about Wellersburg and the adjacent township of Southampton, the Captain, Peter B. Petrie, according to the best information attainable to the writer, having been a resident of Wellersburg at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war.
The regiment was mostly employed in guarding the Baltimore & Ohio railroad from New Creek (now Keyser, West Virginia) to points east of Cumberland, Maryland. At times the entire regiment was at Cumberland, but most of the time the companies were detached along the line of the railroad. The regiment, however, also saw some service of a more active nature in 1864, and took part in several engagements in the Shenandoah Valley. At Cumberland, a couple of gondola cars had been in some way roofed over or covered with iron rails, the sides were pierced by port-holes, and they carried small brass guns, probably three or four-pounders. These armored cars, or iron-clads, as they may be called, were run back and forth over the road to such points as were threatened by the Rebels, who were quite persistent in their efforts to burn the bridges and otherwise interrupt the free use of the railroad, the keeping open of which was a matter of vital importance. In one of the frequent encounters that took place east of Cumberland, the enemy also had one or two light pieces of artillery, a well directed shell from which, entering a port-hole of one of these iron-clad cars, exploded and put it out of business. These iron-clad cars were manned and operated by Capt. Petrie's Company K through almost the entire war. Aside from this particular service, we have very little information about the company.
For such names of its members as are here given the present writer is indebted to Samuel M. Petrie, a son of the captain, and John H. Lepley, Esq., of Southampton township."
The following is quoted from the August 3, 1864 issue of "The Alleganian":
"Green Spring Run was captured and they paroled Col. Stowe and eighty of his troops. The RR Battery of Capt. Petrie was lying there, the engine attached which received a shell in its boiler. Gen. McCausland and Rosser with their brigades are supposed to have composed the rebel forces. A considerable number of horses and cows were taken from the farmers along their routes, in the lower part of the County."
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