For the record, I'm thinking of the early 19th century, from the start of the Napoleonic Wars to approximately the end of the American Civil War.
After the rise of gunpowder warfare, various attempts were made to develop some kind of bullet-proof armour. Some attempts involved using multiple layers of fabric to dissipate the force of incoming bullets before they could harm the wearer. The Koreans, for example, invented
a form of bullet-proof vest made from layered cloth. These vests were able to deflect bullets, but never found widespread use, partly because they were too thick to wear in summer and tended to cause heat exhaustion.
Basically, I was wondering whether it would be possible to apply the same principle of dissipating the impact from bullets, but instead of making a vest, spreading the fabric over a wooden backing to make a kind of primitive
gun shield. This would probably avoid the issue of heat exhaustion, but would such a piece of equipment be enough to defend against bullets from an 1800-1865-era gun? And if so, what do you think would be the best way of deploying them?