Lot Essay
A written testament provided by Vashti Gassett ("formerly Gashet")
to attain a war pension years after the death of her husband, Levi, proves invaluable in confirming the authenticity and historical importance of this powderhorn (Declaration of Vashti Gassett to Thomas F. Hammond, Judge of Probate Court, 2 February, 1837, National Archives, Washington, D.C.). A Sargent in Captian Samuel Wood's company, Gashet fought during the Siege of Boston led by British General Gage at the Battle of Bunker Hill, from 1775-1776. Before the encounter in Charlestown, Gashet was stationed in Cambridge and in Dorchester during the same period, in which time he may have engraved the powderhorn. The same horn was recalled by Gashet's son, Darius, in a testament written under the same circumstances as his mother. He noted that "I can recollect...I have frequently heard my father speak of being in the army and I have in my home a powder horn, which he used to tell me he brought from Dorchester with him, when he came out of the service" (National Archives, February 2, 1837).
Following the decorative traditions of their heritage established by master gunsmiths of the 17th century, Colonial soldiers embellished their horns with scenes familiar to them often recounting experiences in battle. This example illustrates an active conflict between opposing sides as soliders fire at one another with casualities fallen between them. This scheme actually relates to a carving tradition of horns made in the Lake George region of New York, illustrating the cross-current of soldiers and schools of carvers during the battles leading into and during the Revolution (William H. Guthman,
Trumpets Sounding, (Hartford, 1993), p. 197). The tension between the battling soldiers is countered with a peaceful landscape of trees and birds flanked by engraved bands of swag-like decoration. The edge of the horn is also embellished with swags echoed by the chip-carved edge. The manner of lettering is quite precise and artistically rendered with crosshatching and deliberate separation of each letter by punctuation.
Powderhorns were essential to the Colonial soldier, who needed a protective, dry environment to store the powder necessary for his survival. Heightened by the testaments and accounts of his family, Levi Gashet's powderhorn is significant as a record and as an artisitic outlet for one man's experience in the Revolutionary War (see Stephen V. Grancsay, American Engraved Powderhorns, (Pennsylvania, 1965), pp. 1-10; Guthman, Trumpets Sounding, pp. 24-35).
to attain a war pension years after the death of her husband, Levi, proves invaluable in confirming the authenticity and historical importance of this powderhorn (Declaration of Vashti Gassett to Thomas F. Hammond, Judge of Probate Court, 2 February, 1837, National Archives, Washington, D.C.). A Sargent in Captian Samuel Wood's company, Gashet fought during the Siege of Boston led by British General Gage at the Battle of Bunker Hill, from 1775-1776. Before the encounter in Charlestown, Gashet was stationed in Cambridge and in Dorchester during the same period, in which time he may have engraved the powderhorn. The same horn was recalled by Gashet's son, Darius, in a testament written under the same circumstances as his mother. He noted that "I can recollect...I have frequently heard my father speak of being in the army and I have in my home a powder horn, which he used to tell me he brought from Dorchester with him, when he came out of the service" (National Archives, February 2, 1837).
Following the decorative traditions of their heritage established by master gunsmiths of the 17th century, Colonial soldiers embellished their horns with scenes familiar to them often recounting experiences in battle. This example illustrates an active conflict between opposing sides as soliders fire at one another with casualities fallen between them. This scheme actually relates to a carving tradition of horns made in the Lake George region of New York, illustrating the cross-current of soldiers and schools of carvers during the battles leading into and during the Revolution (William H. Guthman,
Trumpets Sounding, (Hartford, 1993), p. 197). The tension between the battling soldiers is countered with a peaceful landscape of trees and birds flanked by engraved bands of swag-like decoration. The edge of the horn is also embellished with swags echoed by the chip-carved edge. The manner of lettering is quite precise and artistically rendered with crosshatching and deliberate separation of each letter by punctuation.
Powderhorns were essential to the Colonial soldier, who needed a protective, dry environment to store the powder necessary for his survival. Heightened by the testaments and accounts of his family, Levi Gashet's powderhorn is significant as a record and as an artisitic outlet for one man's experience in the Revolutionary War (see Stephen V. Grancsay, American Engraved Powderhorns, (Pennsylvania, 1965), pp. 1-10; Guthman, Trumpets Sounding, pp. 24-35).