Arthur Erenburgh

In 1860 he was an engineer at Perrysville near Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, PA. He enrolled for 3 months' service on 20 April 1861 as 2nd Lieutenant of Company E, First Kentucky Infantry at Camp Clay near Cincinnati, OH and was promoted to First Lieutenant on 3 June. On reenlistment for 3 years, his company was detached as an independent artillery battery on 3 July 1861.

He was in command of the battery in Maryland in Captain Simmond's absence, and was wounded in action - his "left leg shot off" - at Antietam on 17 September 1862. His leg was amputated at the middle third of his thigh the same day by Assistant Surgeon H. E. Smith, US Volunteers (later Surgeon of the 27th Michigan Infantry).

He was relieved in command at Antietam by 2nd Lieutenant Frederick Dame.

He had subsequent surgery to remove bone fragments and was treated at the Locust Spring hospital on the Geeting farm near Keedysville, MD. He was admitted to US Army General Hospital (GH) #6 in Frederick, MD on 22 December, transferred to GH #1 there on 11 February 1863, sent to a private home to recover on 20 April 1863, and was in Pittsburgh by 11 May.

In October 1863 he was listed as absent without leave (though it had been granted) and was ordered to appear before a medical board at Pittsburgh in February 1864. In April 1864 he was still in Pittsburgh waiting the decision of the board, and his battery mustered out of service at the end of their term in June.

He applied for American citizenship in Allegheny County in November 1864 and was finally discharged from the army for disability on 15 May 1865.

By 1870 he was a hotel keeper at McKeesport near Pittsburgh, PA. On 1 March 1872, giving his occupation as machinist, he was admitted to the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton, OH. He transferred in September to the Northwest Branch of the Home in Milwaukee, WI and died there a year later on the 11th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam and the loss of his leg, from "opium eating."

He had officially been charged with desertion from a Pittsburgh hospital in January 1865, but in 1901 the War Department removed that and his previous charge of being absent without leave in 1863 from the record as "erroneous."

His service from the State of Ohio1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Captain Simmonds had been absent, sick, since 15 August 1862 according to the battery's September 1862 return in Hunt's Papers;3 thanks to Jim Rosebrock for that reference and the pointer to his stay at the Soldier's Home, from the Registers.4 Amputation information from the MSHWR 5 with hospital details from the Patient List 6 and Nelson.7 Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860 & 1870, and his Petition for Naturalization. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Sophia (?; c. 1837-1910) in 1855 and they had a son, Henry (c. 1857-).

c. 1828 in PRUSSIA

09/17/1873; Milwaukee, WI; burial in Wood National Cemetery, Milwaukee, WI