This powder horn held gunpowder for 18th (and 19th) Century firearms. Unlike today, gunpowder had to be manually added to Colonial Era guns. Powder horns made it easy to carry large quantities of gunpowder.
Soldiers often carried paper cartridges prepared with the gunpowder and bullet already inside. They poured this into the barrel of their musket, pushed it into place with a ram rod, and used a powder horn like this one pictured to put gunpowder into the “flash pan.” Since they were necessary and common, many soldiers and hunters sought out powder horns with designs on them. Designs, like this eagle, became way to distinguish between individual powder horns, as well as reflecting the owner’s personality.
You can see the powder horn, and a flintlock rifle it would be used with, this weekend at the Salem Museum during Hands-On History Saturdays.
Join the Salem Museum on Sept. 2 for Colonial Living History Day. Costume interpreters will take visitors back to the Colonial Era in Southwest Virginia with a full day of living history. Colonial re-enactors will demonstrate professions, trades and crafts that were essential, and tell stories about the men and women who built a life on Virginia’s frontier.