Amador ledger., 1909-09-03
OLD POWDERHORNS.
They Were Once important I'M
pIements of Warfare.
TREASURED AS HElRLOOMS.

hsllF VI luuCH VI It's IOulduCe anu Jue
soldier Of much of his old time pictur.
Pslueness. Although the pOwderhorn
as nn implement of war disappeared
krg before the magazine gun of today
was dreamed of. it wasn't so very long
ago. rs Il matter of fact. that men
were carrying powderhorns Some of
thr soldiers in the Mcxican war. for
example. used them.
Tue powderhorns carried by the
fighters in the early days of this coun-
toy were often of comparatively sim
pie workmanship. but they were cher.
ished and handed down from father
TO son and from friend to friend.
Strnnge to say, though cherished in
this manner, collectors have had a
very hard time in locating any great
number of the powderhons used in
this country, and this in spite of the
large numbers used in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries.
I'm the French and Indian war the
English and Americans carried 10000
powderhorns, it has been estimated,
to say nothing of the number carried
by those on the French side. In the
Revolution there were, according to
the best estimates. about 10000 pow
derhorns in use in the American
army without counting those on the
British side. The European troops had
long discarded them. of course, but
their colonial allies naturally were
equipped with them.
N few years ago Isaac J. Greenwood
pie.-anted to the New York Historical
society a collection of water color pic
lures of powderhorns he had found
still in existence.
Although the search was prosecuted
with great diligence. the number of pow
derhorns actually located and sketched
was not much more than 400, showing
how quickly the horns have been dis
Powderhorns are supposed to have
rome into use almost simultaneously
with the invention of gunpowder A
way had to be found to carry the pow
der and keep it dry and men quickly
found that there wasn't anything bet
ter or cheaper in mediaeval times for
This purpose than the horns of an ami
NAL.
They were in general use in the six
feenth century and were brought to
this country by the first settlers. The
eldest horn whose picture appears In
the collection was found near Schenec-
tady, N. Y, and bears the date of 1888.
1t was generally the horns of their
own cattle that the farmer fighters Of
America used. The loss of a horn In
nowiSe impaired the usefulness Of the
animal. and bulls frequently were
called upon to make the sacrifice. Such
horns were easily obtained and
wouldn't rust and could be carried in
the rain and through streams without
the powder in them getting wet.
They were always worn under the
Ieft arm by a strap that went over the
right shoulder, the curve in the horn
to the shape of the body
and serving to keep it out of the way
Of the wearer. There was Il stopple in
the small end, and without being un-
sIung the powder could be poured into
the right hand and thence into the gun.
Boiled, scraped and cleaned and col
Ored with an orange or yellow dye,
which was the way most of the pow
derhorns were prepared. they lent
more readily to ornaments
tion by the owner than did any other
part of his equipment. and 1t Is this
fact which has made them particularly
as historical relics. Admir-
ing friends in the days when powder
horns were in general use instead or
a hero with an engraved
sword gave him a finely decorated
pO wderhOrn.
Sometimes the horns were made to
order and the engraving done by pro-
Iessionals. Many of these horns were
Beautifully colored. the most popular
SHADE being sort Of orange tint.
Perhaps the most remarkable exam
pies of the engraving are to be seen
on the geographical horns whose pic
lures appear in the Greenwood collec-
lion. These geographical horns took
the place of pocket maps for the early
pioneers. They were the work of pro-
hssional engravers in places like New
York and Boston.
Some of the horns in the collection
contain practically complete maps Of
thc old trails and waterways. One OF
the best Of these bears the date Of
1861 and shows New York with its
harbor filed with ships and New York
state as far as Lake Champlain and
Ontario. The Hudson valley, with its
settlements. appears on most of the
horns discovered. One
norm shows the country between Eliz-
abethtown and PittsburS. each little