Gershom Prince’s gunpowder horn is on loan from the Luzerne County Historical Society at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
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A close up shot of Gershom Prince’s gunpowder horn on loan from the Luzerne County Historical Society at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
Fisher Gay, a farmer in Wyoming, walked through a field after the Battle of Wyoming fought July 3, 1778, picking up an engraved powder horn.
Gay’s efforts at finding the powder horn where more than 300 patriots were killed by the British and Iroquois raiders saved a piece of history that is today nearly 261 years old.
The powder horn was owned by Gershom Prince, the only African American soldier killed during the Wyoming Battle.
Prince was born in Connecticut 1733, and began using a cow’s horn to store gunpowder during the French and Indian War.
“He may have been a free black in the employ of Robert Durkee. He accompanied Captain Durkee during the French and Indian War and was at Crown Point in 1761. It was there that he carved his famous powder horn which he dated and signed Sept. 3, 1761, acknowledging that it was carved at that place,” the Times Leader reported June 5, 1976.
Prince further engraved his name, “Prince, Negro,” on the powder horn.
Crown Point was a French Fort on the shore of Lake Champlain, N.Y.
During the Revolutionary War, Prince fought at Germantown, Brandywine and was encamped at Valley Forge during the winter season of 1777 and 1778.
The first search result in newspaper archives listing Prince’s name was in a Union Leader newspaper story dated June 6, 1878, regarding the Wyoming Monument. Prince is listed among those killed during the battle.
A story in the Times Leader dated July 3, 1926, about the events leading up to the battle tells the tale of Prince accompanying Durkee and Lt. Phineas Pierce arriving at Forty Fort after a long trek to procure horses and reinforcements from Wind Gap in Northampton County.
Durkee, Pierce and Prince arrived at Forty Fort soon after soldiers began to march north toward Wyoming to investigate black smoke coming from Wintermoot Fort in today’s Exeter, which had been set on fire by the British and Iroquis to draw them out into the open fields.
“These three men (Durkee, Pierce and Prince) had ridden all the preceding night and were almost exhausted through hunger and over-exertion. But as soon as they had learned from the inmates of Forty Fort about the situation of affairs, they explained, ‘Give us a morsel of food and we will follow on?” the Times Leader reported July 3, 1926.
Durkee and Prince joined the battle and were killed.
After the battle, Gay picked up Prince’s powder horn that survives today with the Luzerne County Historical Society on loan and displayed at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
“The horn is carved with Prince’s name as well as exquisite artwork including detailed images of trees, forts and scenes from everyday life, giving a unique glimpse into his experiences,” according to a news release from the Museum of the American Revolution.
The horn was donated by Prince’s family to the Luzerne County Historical Society sometime in the 1950s.
Prince’s name is engraved on the Wyoming Monument among those killed during the battle.
