Tansel Powder Horns of Kentucky: 1813 Ft. Meigs Horns ©
America’s finest folk art powder horns were made by the Tansel family of Scott County, KY from about 1800 until 1829. In 1829 they moved to Hendricks County, IN, where they continued to carve fine horns of a later style. Eastern collectors value the earlier French and Indian War and Revolutionary War carved powder horns more highly in part because they recorded the service records of early American soldiers. But for pure folk art that captured the heart and soul of early Americans as they settled the untamed “Kentucky” lands west of the Appalachians, the Tansel horns have no equal. Francis Tansel, the first carver, was born in France, came to America during the French Revolution and settled in Virginia. He then headed to Kentucky about 1798, settling in Scott County. His earliest carved Kentucky horns date to about 1800, or a little after [earliest horns are not dated] and the first known [to the writer] dated horn is 1806. Francis’ horns were covered with folk art figures that included his “trademark” federal eagle with shielded breast, “E Pluribus Unum” banner overhead with a field of stars, and an array of other figures including an Indian shooting an arrow at a deer, other deer standing or running, birds, hound dogs, fancy cartouches for names, finely scalloped borders, and his “trademark” fish-mouth separation between the horn’s body and its spout section. Sons John (b. 1800) and Stark (b. 1807) followed in their father’s footsteps and carved fine horns in Kentucky when they became of age. Third son Timothy (b. 1810), the most prolific carver later in Indiana, probably carved his first horns in Kentucky, but is best known for his Indiana work. The quality of the Tansels’ work as folk art that recorded early American frontier history is unmatched by any other group of carved horns.
Figure 1: Front view of Ft. Meigs powder horn carved by Francis Tansel for Kentucky soldier Samuel Arnold on September 15, 1813.
Figure 2: Rear view of Ft. Meigs powder horn by Francis Tansel with a detailed image of Ft. Meigs showing its trenches and gates.
Francis Tansel changed his carved decoration style over time. His evolving changes allow his work to be sequenced and enable approximate dates to be assigned to most known horns. The key dating figure is his federal eagle with shielded breast. It grew in size over the years, and its wing position changed from an early “blade wing” eagle to a “droopy wing” eagle, and then as years passed, the wings slowly rose up to the final “high wing” eagle of his last years. Future blogs will explore the several identifiable periods of his work. But for this article, his shortest and most rare period will be discussed. Those horns, the precious few surviving War of 1812 horns made while he served as a Kentucky militia soldier at Ft. Meigs in northwest Ohio, deserve this first review.
A good number of Tansel horns probably saw service in the War of 1812, most carved prior to Francis Tansel’s service period. Francis served in the Kentucky militia from March 29, 1813, until September 28, 1813. Today, we know of only three surviving horns that were actually carved while he served at Ft. Meigs: they all carry an image of Ft. Meigs, a soldier’s name, and the date the horn was carved. Surviving horns have the following soldiers’ names: Archibald Elliott, James Arnold, and Samuel Arnold. The first two horns are at the Ft. Meigs Museum [Ohio Historical Society] and both show damage. The third and most complete horn, the “Samuel Arnold” horn, remains in private hands and is the focus of this blog.
Samuel and James Arnold, whose names appear on two of the Ft. Meigs horns, were brothers. In 1810, Samuel was living in Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he enlisted on March 29th of 1813 in Capt. Peter Dudley’s company, Col. William Boswell’s regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Light Infantry, for service at Ft. Meigs. Samuel Arnold served with Dudley’s company until September 9, 1813. After a short respite, he re-signed with Capt. George Baltzell’s company as a lieutenant. Baltzell’s company then accompanied General William H. Harrison into Canada and fought at the Battle of Thames, where the British were routed and Tecumseh, the great Indian war chief, was killed. The Samuel Arnold horn is dated Sept. 15, 1813, in Arnold’s short respite period before General Harrison’s advance into Canada. The horn has survived with a provenance that states it later went from Arnold to the Bruner family in Kentucky who carried it north into Spencer County, Indiana, where it stayed for many years. Eventually it moved into the Miller family, went to the west coast, then back east, where it finally sold out of the family to the author. The Samuel Arnold horn is perhaps the rarest of all Tansel horns, being made during the War of 1812 under war time conditions, carried in a major battle of that war, and documenting a Kentucky militia member’s service at Ft. Meigs. It has survived in good condition, being well cared for and honored by its owners for over two hundred years.
If you have information about Tansel powder horns, or other interesting powder horns produced during this era, I’d like to hear from you and see what you’ve discovered. Please comment below, or you may contact the author at sgallien@comcast.net.
