Robert Erskine (1735–1780) was a Scottish inventor and engineer who came to the British colonial

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after ...

in 1771 to run the

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

Ringwood, New Jersey Ringwood is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,735, a decline of 493 (−4.0%) from the 2010 census count of 12,228,American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

he designed an underwater cheval-de-frise that was installed across the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

at the north end of Manhattan to prevent passage of British ships upriver. In 1777 General George Washington appointed him as Geographer and Surveyor General of the Continental Army at the rank of colonel. In that role Erskine drew more than 275 maps, mostly of the Northeast region.

Early life

Erskine was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and attended the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. As a young man he started a business, but it failed. He invented the " Continual Stream Pump" and "

Platometer A planimeter, also known as a platometer, is a measuring instrument used to determine the area of an arbitrary two-dimensional shape. Construction There are several kinds of planimeters, but all operate in a similar way. The precise way in wh ...

", a

centrifugal hydraulic engine Centrifugal (a key concept in rotating systems) may refer to: * Centrifugal casting (industrial), Centrifugal casting (silversmithing), and Spin casting (centrifugal rubber mold casting), forms of centrifigual casting *Centrifugal clutch * Centri ...

, and experimented with other

hydraulic system Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid count ...

s. He became known as an inventor and engineer of some renown in his native land. Erskine also became active in civic issues and increasingly gained the respect of his community.

Immigration to New Jersey

In 1771 at the age of 36 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

, a prestigious appointment in the scientific community. That year the owners of an ironworks near

. Erskine was sympathetic to the American cause, but worried that he might lose his workers to the army. Instead he organised them into a citizen militia and was appointed as captain in August 1775.

Colonial service in the Revolutionary War

Once the war broke out in earnest the Colonials were concerned that British warships would gain control of the

and separate

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

from the rest of the colonies. Erskine designed a tetrahedron-shaped marine cheval-de-frise, a defensive barrier of pointed logs strung together abreast the river to prevent warships from sailing upriver. It was installed between Fort Washington on the northern end of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

and Fort Lee, New Jersey in 1776. George Washington was impressed with Erskine from the moment they met in 1777, and appointed him to the post of Geographer and Surveyor General of the Continental Army. In that role Erskine drew more than 275 maps covering the northern sector of the war. His maps of the region, showing roads, buildings, and other details, were of much use to General Washington and remain historically valuable today. Many of these maps can be found in the Erskine Dewitt Map Collection at the

New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...

. Erskine also kept the Ringwood ironworks in operation, supplying critical munitions and materials to Washington's army.

Personal life

While out on a map-making expedition in 1780, Erskine became ill. He died on 2 October 1780, probably of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. He is buried at

Ringwood Manor Ringwood Manor, located in Passaic County, New Jersey, was the site of an ironworks and home to a number of well-known ironmasters from the 1740s to the late 19th century. The current manor house was not built until 1807. History Scottish enginee ...

Ringwood State Park Ringwood State Park is a state park in Passaic County in northeastern New Jersey, USA. The Park is located in the heart of the Ramapo Mountains in Ringwood. Its forests are part of the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion. It contains ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Legacy and honours

Erskine was elected a

In 1771. He was elected a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...

in 1780. It is unclear whether the honor was posthumous. Erskine Lake, as well as Robert Erskine Elementary School, both in Ringwood, are named after him.

Maps, surveys and documents

* Erskine, Robert. ''Robert Erskine correspondence''. n.d. Library of Congress. * Erskine, Robert, and Nathanael Greene. '' ap of Orange and Rockland Counties Area of New York'. 1779. Copied from surveys laid down by R. Erskine, F.R.S. 1778, 1779. * Erskine, Robert. ''Lower Half of an Original Survey Done for His Excy. General Washington''. Bergen: Bergen Historical Society, 1920. Printed facsimile of original map in the

; place names have been copied over for greater clarity. Shows topography, towns, and roads of northern New Jersey. by Robt. Erskine, F.R.S., Geographer to the Army, 1778–1779. * Erskine, Robert. ''Litchfield, Conn., to the Highlands of Neversink'', Washington: US Army, Corps of Engineers, 1975. Facsimile. Robt. Erskine, F.R.S., Decr. 1779. * Erskine, Robert, Simeon De Witt, and Richard Varrick De Witt. ''A List of the Rough Draughts of Surveys by Robert Erskine F.R.S. Geogr. A.US and Assistants, Begun A.D. 1778''. 1778. Index to 129 military topographic map titles which in turn describe a series of approximately 341 separate map sheets. (At least 283 of those sheets still exist; an additional dozen sheets appear to be related but are not indexed.) The index describes a territory bounded by the Detroit River in the west, Lake Champlain in the north, the Connecticut River in the east and Charlestown, South Carolina in the south. However, most entries refer to western Connecticut, southeastern New York, northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Entries through number 114 are in Erskine's hand. Subsequent entries probably by DeWitt, although nos. 115 and 116 have been attributed to Washington by Guthorn. * Erskine, Robert, Simeon De Witt, Benjamin Lodge, and Richard Varrick De Witt. ''Mensurations on the Ice: Feby 7th 1780. 1780''. Military topographic map. Covers the counties of Rockland and Westchester in New York. Shows dimensions of that widening of the Hudson River called "Haverstraw Bay." Also shows some roads. Includes text: "Measured on the Ice Feby. 7th Monday 1780 by ???De itt& Lodge" Both these men served under Erskine. Pen-and-ink, pencil on laid paper. * Stephen A. Estrin, inc, and Robert Erskine. ''Westchester Heritage Map: Indian Occupation, Colonial and Revolutionary Names, Structures, and Events''. arrytown, N.Y. Junior League of Westchester-on-Hudson, 1978. Roads originally surveyed by Robert Erskine 1778–1780 ; Westchester heritage map prepared in 1977, 1978, by Stephen A. Estrin, inc., Carmel, N.Y., from ''Map of Westchester County showing Indian Occupation,'' compiled by Westchester Historical Society with workers from the Emergency Work Bureau of Westchester County, dated 1933, and data supplied by the Westchester Heritage Task Force. * Partridge, Edward Laselle, and Robert Erskine. ''Plan for Creation of a National Preserve ... Commemorative of the War of the American Revolution, and for the Preservation of the Natural Beauty of the Hudson River and of the Highlands of the Hudson'', 1904. The map is a facsimile of surveys done for General Washington by Robert Erskine in 1778/79.

References

External links

Professional Surveyor Archives: Robert Erskine, Part IProfessional Surveyor Archives: Robert Erskine, Part II''Witness to the Early American Experience''
New York University, Contains digital copies of many of Robert Erskine's maps. {{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, Robert 1735 births 1780 deaths American cartographers New Jersey militiamen in the American Revolution Fellows of the Royal Society British ironmasters People from Ringwood, New Jersey People of New Jersey in the American Revolution Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from colonial New Jersey Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Members of the American Philosophical Society