Does anyone here know about gunpowder in the 1600s and 1700s? Powder then was, of course, black powder only.

Where did the powder used then come from? Did people make their own, or was there a factory? Where did people buy it? Today there are hundreds of different powders, but what about then -- was it all the same, or were there different kinds from which one could choose?

I'm sure I've read, but don't remember, when the first powder mill in the American colonies was set up. At any rate there was "local" powder in the 1700s, but it was regarded as inferior to the imported stuff. Black powder always was pretty variable in quality from one maker to another. The basic formula might be the same, but the kind of charcoal that was used, how it was prepared, the purity of the saltpeter, the degree of pulverization of the ingredients and the thoroughness of the mixing process, as well as things like how it was dried, the degree of sorting of different granule sizes, grain polishing, glazing, presence of dust, and probably other factors I haven't thought of greatly affect its performance. Even today, black powders from different makers aren't the same. I don't think powder ever was a "homemade" product, though. Even in the case of wartime necessity in the South, small production operations were set up, not individual makers.

There are some good Web sites on the history of powder making, none of which I have handily bookmarked right now. A bit of searching on Google with appropriate keywords will soon get you some good information.

[ 11-01-2003, 19:20: Message edited by: NotRicochet ]

c.1675, UNITED STATES. FIRST KNOWN DOMESTIC POWDER PRODUCTION

Manufacture of Black Powder takes place in a facility called a mill. The mill, much like that used to produce flour from grain, is used to crush or crumble the caked mixture into granules. These are selected for various purposes or returned to the batch for reprocessing.

The first recorded powder mill was, Milton (mill-town) Massachusetts. Today, Milton is but a short drive from Boston, but at the time, Milton was considered to be way out in the country, a safe distance away from Boston in the case of a mishap, and located on the Neponset river which supplied water power to the mills.
Fifty short years after the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and the arrival of the Puritans, the settlers have moved out into the woods and secured it sufficiently to look toward reducing their reliance on supplies of Black Powder from the mother country. Black Powder is what kept the settlers alive on the frontier some fifty to a hundred miles from their primary settlements.
Vital to their life, Black Powder was instrumental in providing the game they ate, in warding off the ever-increasing number of savage attacks, and even to start the life saving fire of the wet woods traveler. In another hundred years it would become vital to the final security of the new homeland within the boundaries of their frontiers.

Across this hundred years, few such mills were built. The British restricted manufacture, and controlled the importation of powder by the Colonies. With the increases in tension of the 1770's, government authorities restricted the amount of available powder to the minimum they thought the Colonist required for survival.

The 19 April 1775 march by Crown Forces troops on Lexington and Concord had as its purpose to confiscate unauthorized supplies of powder, ball, and arms, and to arrest Adams and Hancock.

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c.1800, General
CHANGE IN STANDARD COMPOSITION

Generally, around the world, Black Powder came to be standardized at 15/2/3 or 15/3/2 of KNO/S/C, both to the same effect. This allowed for more standardization of arms chamber strength, and the opportunity to use powder from various sources - hopefully your enemy's.
It is in this period that sound ballistic experiments are undertaken, the results of which prevail to this day. Closed bomb pressure measurement comes into use. Pendulum measurement of rifle ball effects are refined. We are learning what really happens inside firearms, rather than relying upon guess and superstition.
World standardization, or nearly so, would lead to the easy use of foreign powders by the Confederate States in their War of Secession.
Standardized powder would allow mass produced adjustable sights to be fitted to rifles. Since the force of every cartridge will be nearly identical, the sights can be closely regulated at the factory for differing ranges.

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1804, United States
DUPONT POWDER MILL ESTABLISHED

DuPont established his first powder mill on Brandywine Creek, near Wilmington DE. The creek provided the power source, and cooling water for the mill.
DuPont's product was effective, but not the ultimate available. Most shooters preferred the "English Powder" still imported after the successful American Revolution.
In these times, "gunpowder" was just gunpowder. The granulation varieties we know today were not available as known classes of performance. One bought Joe's powder or Jim's powder because it worked better in ones particular arm. Governments bought a given powder because of its price and availability, or possibly the favor involved.
Among civilians, this Ford vs. Chevy fashion of thought persisted until recent times. Some individuals were very certain in espousing that Remington ammunition was far, far superior to that produced by Winchester, and vice versa.
DuPont, seeking success through broad acceptance by the public, worked diligently to formulate and then manufacture a powder superior to the competition. Did he succeed? Read on.

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1810, United States
DUPONT BECOMES AMERICA'S LARGEST POWDER PRODUCER

What can you say about the world's leader in the products derived from applied chemistry? In six short years they ascended to the pinnacle of Black Powder production. As they entered the age of smokeless powder, they capitalized upon their chemical discoveries with that same skill and drive.

Good job, Steve.

From the Lyman reloading handbook 46th edition:

"Eleuthere Irenee DuPont (no wonder he used the initials E.I. )arrived in America from Paris with his father and brother in 1800, as political refugees, bent on developing a tract of land in Virginia. Eleuthere's plans changed when he ran out of gunpowder on a hunting trip and purchased some of American manufacture. Unimpressed with its quality he decided to begin manufacturing powder. This was the humble beginning of what is today one of the country's largest manufacturing firms.
The DuPont plant was a great success. The quality of the powder was much better than anything available in this country. Gunpowder had, at this time, many uses other than for shooting. People believed that drinking a mixture of gunpowder and rum made them courageous. Gunpowder was also used as a seasoning for meat, and as a cauterizing agent on open wounds. An interesting belief was that burning gunpowder purified the air...a questionable benefit given the acrid aroma. Nonetheless, the troops at Valley Forge were ordered to burn the powder of one rifle charge per night in each tent to purify the air."

I wonder if ol' E.I. had an advertizing department think up those inane uses to help sell more of the gunpowder?

Good post, Steve, et al.

Exellent reading. Thanks, all!

My meager contribution: Since the duPont factory was located on a river, for power, if someone blew himself up, he had "gone across the river".

For those interested DuPont used to have a museum (and gardens with a water and light show) near Wilmington, DE. Great stuff back in 1970. (!) I've no idea if it still exists, but if it does it is worth a stop.