The Great American Powder Horn

 The great American powder horn was as essential as it was varied throughout this country’s development in the 18th and 19th centuries.

 Basically it was a safe and dependable way for soldiers, hunters, and others to carry gun powder. Various materials were used, as they had been centuries before in other countries, but the animal horn became the standard in the United States.

 Thus for many decades the powder horn was fundamental in purpose and somewhat absorbing in design.

 Powder horns, aside from other powder containers of wood or leather, could be readily made from the horn of a cow, ox, young bull or steer.  Later the horn of the buffalo was used as Americans moved westward.

 It was said that the natural curve of such animal horns made the powder horn fit nicely on the hip of those who wore it. At the smaller tapered end was a variation of a spout and closing device. At the wider end was a permanent plug usually made of a choice hardwood. With both ends closed the water proof nature of the animal would keep any water out and thus the powder remained forever dry.

 “Many a hunter, trapper, farmer, and settler in the United States made and carved his own powder horn,” notes Dorothy Jenkins in the 1963 volume A Fortune in the Junk.

 However, many other powder horns were professionally crafted. In some cases these professionals were braziers who specialized in metals such as bootjacks, bullet molds, and sewing birds. Then there were so-called horners or hornsmiths who specialized in making all manner of items from animal horns including cups, spoons, and eventual- ly eyeglass frames. Additionally there were gunsmiths and assorted engravers who also occasionally indulged in the craft of powder horn making.

 Before the American Revolutionary war most all of the professionally made powder horns were imported from England and typically were engraved with the British coat of arms. In direct contrast American made powder horns of the latter 18th century and afterwards often made reference to Colonial locations and symbols.

 Many decorated powder horns were surprisingly durable. Katharine McClinton notes in The Complete Book of American Country Antiques and professionals often dipped the horn in a yellow dye of butternut bark to bring out the grain in the translucent horn. Sometimes lines of the design or image were filled in with grease, wax, soot, or gunpowder dust to amplify the overall en- graving. A more aggressive approach to enhance the lines was the use of vermilion dye. Some makers then further coated the engraved or marked powder horn with a type of varnish or shellac.

 Increasingly the powder horn, decorated in detail or otherwise, was a necessity for carrying needed gunpowder for the trusty firearm. There were other uses, however.

 “They were used for miners and quarrymen to carry explosives,” according to McClinton, “and they often served as canteens for water or for the vinegar used in sharpening scythes in the field. Ingenious pioneer housewives even stored their salt in them.”

 As early as the 1830s the metal powder flask began to gradually replace the more traditional powder horn. Still many from sea captains to frontiersmen clung steadfastly to the enduring and sometimes engraved powder horn.

 In recent years a major auction house sold the large powder horn which belonged to Captain Joseph Mayhew in the early 1840s. It was engraved with images of whaling scenes, whales, a mariner’s compass, an anchor, and the captain’s full name. There was also a spread wing eagle and shield dated 1843.

 The powder horn was described has having a turned threaded nipple with a faceted neck and with inset mother of pear disks. The wide end was plugged with a wedge of mahogany and completed with a heart and peg made of bone. The 24-inch horn, along with some personal papers of Captain Mayhew and an ambrotype image brought a winning bid of several thousand dollars.

 Of course not all powder horns were as fanciful or as documented as the Captain Mayhew example. But many were engraved with fascinating images and symbols.

 In the Library of Congress is a collection of eight powder horns dating from the French and Indian War to the American Revolutionary War. A guidebook suggests the most unusual are those with names of forts and towns, diary entries, and maps.

 “Because maps were scarce at the time, it is possible that map-inscribed powder horns served as guides for their owners,” notes the reference  American Treasures of the Library of Congress. “But it is more likely that the map images provided records or mementos of the areas that the owners traversed or the campaigns in which they were involved.”

 Perhaps their finest example is a fine powder horn inscribed with a map of the Hudson and Mohawk river valleys. It was the pride of a group of powder horns once owned Peter Force a noted collector of the early 19th century. The Library of Congress purchased the collection in 1867.

 Details on the horn, including forts, towns, and buildings suggest it was crafted in the late 1750s. Authorities at the Library of Congress indicate that particular horn bears a British coat of arms suggesting its original owner was a British soldier or someone at least allied with  England at the time.

 At the other end of the sentiment scale would be a powder horn dated 1820 which sold at a major auction some years ago in London.  Showing a ship under full sail with the American flag flying, it bore the following inscription:

 “Success to the American eagle, Who with an air of disdain, spit on the crown of Great Britain.”

 Besides mottoes and sailing ships, many of the classic powder horns also featured images of animals, battles, birds, boats, churches, hunting scenes, village scenes, even windmills. Such horns varied in size from just under 12 inches to two feet in length, as was the piece once owned by sea Captain Joseph Mayhew.

 Smaller horns, sometimes called priming horns were carried by an individual. Larger powder horns, sometimes called cabin horns, were hung with pride in the home and used by family members to fill primer horns.

 Historians indicate that as late as the 1880s plain powder horns were still sold in America’s general stores when they were used for operating so-called Kentucky rifles. More elaborate types, however, were seen only infrequently.

 McClinton wrote in the 1960 that while plain powder horns were considered “inexpensive” those with historic scenes and such were already “beyond the purse of the average collector.” In more recent years Schroeder’s Antique Price Guide has suggested of powder horns, “especially nice carvings can quickly escalate the value of a horn that has survived intact. Those with detailed maps, and historical scenes, can bring even higher prices.”