Howard Pyle (1853–1911) was an illustrator, author, and teacher. He is well-known for his works "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood," "King Arthur," and his illustrations of pirates. This lithograph is a reproduction of an original painting by Howard Pyle that he was commissioned to produce for the E.I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Company in 1911. The image depicts the 1813 wagon train under military escort, which carried DuPont powder from Brandywine Mills near Wilmington, Delaware, to Commodore Perry at Erie, Pennsylvania.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. The company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) for the production of gunpowder. The papers in this collection date from the lifetime of E.I. du Pont and document important aspects of the early history of the DuPont Company.

This series includes personal accounts; student copy books and notes on the subjects of botany, physics, chemistry, natural history, Latin, and horticulture; botanical notes, including an essay on the culture of American corn; memoranda on the manufacture of gunpowder and the construction of the Brandywine mills; memoranda on American manufactures and the tariff; and notes on travels to Pittsburgh (1806) and Angelica, New York (1808).

Also included are papers concerning the South Brandywine Rangers (a militia unit during the War of 1812); legal agreements concerning the acquisition of property for the Delaware powder mills and the importation of Merino sheep; du Pont's shares in the Wilmington & Philadelphia Turnpike Co.; rules and regulations of the Philadelphia & Wilmington Steam Boat Co. (1829); patents and lists of lands owned by du Pont near Pittsburgh and in Virginia; estate papers of Dr. Pierre Didier; and a letter from Louis McLane regarding information from Delaware for his census of manufactures.