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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, Virginia (now West Virginia). Green Springs is located between Cumberland and Hancock Maryland.
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
An Illustration of a Different Armored Car
To see an image of a US ironclad railroad car that was published in the June 22, 1861 "Illustrated London Times", click here (large image; 2557 KB PDF). The accompanying article reads "RAILROAD BATTERY. A SINGULAR engine of war has just been completed in the United States. The determination of the Federal Government to reconstruct the bridges on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, destroyed by a mob from Baltimore, has led to the construction of a railroad-battery by the Federal Governemnt at the locomotive works of Baldwin and Co., Philadelphia. One of the long platform baggage-cars has been fixed with sides and top of thick sheet iron, the sides having portholes and loopholes for musketry. A turn-table has been arranged, on which a rifled cannon is to be placed. The carriage for the gun is so constructed that it can be fired at any angle, and from any one of the portholes in the sides and end of the car. In place of shot or shell from the cannon, pieces of iron punched from locomotive boilers will be used as loads. This car is to be placed in front of a locomotive, with fifty men inside, armed with Minie rifles, and with seamen to work the cannon" This ironclad concept is obviously different than that which has been described for Company K of the Second Potomac Home Brigade, but it is included here as the only contemporaneous image of an ironclad railroad car that I have found.
This may be the same image is included on page 28 of the book "The World's Great Artillery from the Middle Ages to the Present Day" by Hans Halberstadt (Barnes & Noble, New York, 2002). The illustration is credited to the Mary Evans Picture Library (https://online.mepl.co.uk picture no. 10075451) which says that it is an unattributed 1861 engraving of an "iron-car battery on the Philadelphia Railway". That website is down today, and I cannot confirm it.
Christian Petenbrink Civil War Pension Records
For all of the above 12 pages in a single 1216 KB PDF file, click here.
Christian Petenbrink military muster records
The links below are to the military records of Christian Petenbrink of Southampton Township, Somerset County PA. They show him to be engaged in the artillery in the Second Potomac Home Brigade.
For all of the above muster records in a single 1871 KB PDF file, click here.
Additional information on the Second Regiment, Potomac Home Brigade
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