CSS Missouri, A Timeline-- Part 5: Iron From Railroads, Engines From Riverboat, Guns from USS Indianola

APRIL 29--  Lt. Jonathan H. Carter reported to Mallory that the armoring of the CSS Missouri below the knuckle was almost completed and her boilers installed.  Also the iron cladding of the casemate will begin at once and her engines installed as rapidly as possible.

At this time, Carter had given up trying to obtain iron plate and  now planned on using t-rails seized from the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad and from the Southern Pacific  Railroad Company.  The engines were to be from a riverboat slated to be sunk in the Red River as an obstruction.  The engines had been overhauled and would be reassembled aboard the ironclad.

Finally, Carter reported that Lt. General Edmund Kirby Smith had promised to send two Dahlgren guns captured on the USS Indianola to Shreveport.

Making Slow Progress.  --Old B-R'er