As with most inventions, the creation of the powder horn was born out of a basic need, to convey small amounts of gunpowder by a soldier or hunter in the 18th century. The craft of creating a powder horn was born in the French and Indian War and eventually was adopted by those involved in the Revolutionary War. By the mid-eighteenth century every man who owned a firearm owned a powder horn. One of the earliest known powder horns was crafted in 1756 and some have been found as far North as Southern Canada. Powder horns were usually made from the horns of cows or oxen. There were many people who used the powder horn for several different reasons. Mostly pioneers, Indians, soldiers, mountain men, miners, travelers, and hunters found a use in the powder horn either as a means of holding gun powder because it was safe, holding explosives, water, storing different things, or simply using them for decoration. As society advanced and more modern conveyances were made available, powder horns were no longer needed and their use became more sentimental and people began to carve different things on their horns such as battle scenes, initials, and several other things. Today, powder horns are only crafted for use in historical settings, for collecting, or for those who carry on the tradition of muzzle loading. .
A cow or oxen horn crafted into a powder horn had to fill two basic needs of the user. A powder horn needed to protect its contents from moisture or the spark from a fire or gun, and needed to act as a quick delivery device for transferring gunpowder to the intended gun. Creating a powder horn wasn't all that difficult and the techniques were very simple. To start, the inside and out of a cow or ox horn was scraped out and polished up until it became transparent so that one could see how much black powder was left in the horn. Then a wooden butt plug was made to fit into the larger end of the horn.