The true significance of this post seems to be going right over everyone's head. The railroad-mounted gun in question, whatever make or model it may have been, was witnessed by Joseph L. Brent, a Confederate ordnance officer. The railroad/gun combination, along with his first-hand knowledge of the abilities of ironclad gunboats, made a lasting impression on Brent, and after the war he toured France preaching the concept of "mobilizable fortifications." A few years later, during the Franco-Prussian War, the French found themselves wishing they had listened to Brent. He authored a book on the subject in the 1880s. The book was brought out in reprint in the early years of WWI, when it was studied and discussed by America's early Armor officers. Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Lancaster Brent was the prophet of modern tank warfare, and his inspiration was General Lee's railroad gun.

Brent's contribution to tank warfare has gone totally unnoticed, but he was preaching mobilizable fortifications long before anyone had ever heard of tanks. As an interesting sidenote, Brent lived in California before the War. One of his best friends there would later become George Patton's maternal grandfather.