1862 "Lee Gun Car"

Chapter XII of Edwin Alexander's wonderful book, "Civil War Railroads & Models" is titled 'Armored Cars' and has photos and drawings of several Rail Guns or Gun Cars. He was kind enough to include 1/4 inch scale drawings of them for use in scratch building. The first of which is the following.
This is described as the "Lee Gun Car" (c)1862. General Lee proposed in a letter of June 5, 1862 to Colonel Gorgas, Chief of Ordinance and Captain George Minor, "a heavy gun on trucks, the whole covered with iron."
There has been much discussion as to the validity of this drawing. It is drawn here based on two early sketches from differing sources. One designated the shield as having "iron plate", while the other wording is "railway iron", which ordinarily means railroad rails. This gun car was used in the battle of Savage Station, 1862. The car mounted a navy 32 pounder and was pushed into battle.

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Published in the Ordinance Department Document No. 2034

RAILWAY ARTILLERY

A Report On

The Characteristics,

Scope Of Utility, Etc.

of

Railway Artillery

Government Printing Office 1921

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The mention of Naval Style armor led me to search for some of the ways the CSN armored its Ironclads. Specifically the CSS Georgia.

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Model By Me