Robert Erskine - Inventor, engineer, surveyor and patriot

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Written By Debra Oakes

It’s hard to overstate how important surveying was to the establishment of the United States – three of our presidents were surveyors, as well as six of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. But even before there were presidents, surveying and cartography played an essential role in the fight for independence.

Portion of Erskine’s map number 108, “From Col. Deys to thePonds and from Wyckoff to Bell Grove.”(Collections of the New York Historical Society.)

By the summer of 1777, General Washington was facing a serious disadvantage related to the Continental Army’s ability to plan and execute military operations – the lack of accurate maps. Conversely, the British had the advantage of highly accurate maps of New York, New Jersey and the surrounding area that had been developed by British mapmakers since the 1600s.

Fortunately, General Washington had the opportunity to meet the person that could resolve the problem. Robert Erskine had been commissioned to create a map of the New Jersey area and personally delivered it to the General. Washington was so impressed that he subsequently asked Congress to appoint Robert Erskine as the Geographer and Surveyor-General to the American Army.

Surveying and map-making were just two of the skills Erskine brought to the table for the Continental Army. At age 42, he was an experienced businessman, engineer and inventor.

An engineer and inventor

Erskine was born in Dumfermline, Scotland in 1735 and attended the University of Edinburgh and received training in engineering. He then entered a business partnership that failed when his partner absconded to the Carolinas with a significant amount of merchandise, leaving Erskine with the bill. Erskine was forced to file for bankruptcy and start over.  This time he used his mechanical skills to invent a “Continual Stream Pump,” but didn’t have the funds to market the invention and ended up in debtor’s court where he promised to make good on his debts.

A drawing believed to be the home of Robert Erskine at Ringwood.

Fortunately, the Salt Works of Westphalia had heard about the invention and wanted to see if it would work for their purposes.  Soon the pump was being manufactured and in use, and Erskine was able to pay off his debts.  Using the skills he learned while manufacturing his pump, he invented several other devices, including the Centrifugal Hydraulic Engine, which added civil engineering expertise to his skill set, as it was used to help regulate the flow of rivers. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society to recognize his important work as an inventor and his contributions to society.

Subsequently, he was approached by investors in an ironworks company headquartered in Ringwood, New Jersey. The company had failed to make money and Erskine accepted the challenge to put the company back on the right track. It was challenging indeed.  He traveled to the New Jersey in 1771 and spent two months visiting mines and reviewing operations of the foundries. He found that the previous manager was a “schemer” with “mad projects” and “manufactured books.” As time went on, and it was clear that the company would not quickly become profitable, the investors stopped sending money and Erskine was left to try to make the business work.

Early patriot

As relations between the colonies and the Crown worsened, Erskine became so worried about the prospect of war that he organized one of the first militias in New Jersey. This militia was made up of his employees: “forgemen, carpenters, blacksmiths, and other hands,” that were meant to ensure the safety of the workers and their families and the surrounding town. He outfitted them at his own expense and in 1775, the New Jersey legislature officially commissioned him as captain of the company.

Erskine’s design for the cheval de friese intended for the Hudson River.

While he was overseeing the training of his company that he put his civil engineering and mechanical expertise to work on behalf of the Continental Army.  He designed a tetrahedron-shaped marine cheval de friese, a defensive barrier of pointed logs strung together abreast on a river to obstruct warships. It was installed near Fort Washington on the New York side of the Hudson River, but Fort Lee on the New Jersey side fell to the British before it could be installed on that bank – the riverbank Erskine was working on while simultaneously mapping the surrounding New Jersey area.

Surveyor General

Erskine got out ahead of the British and was able to personally deliver a map of the area to George Washington, who quickly saw that Erskine was the right man for the job of Geographer and Surveyor-General to the American Army. After accepting the position, he began building his crew, writing this to Washington:

“Young gentlemen of Mathematical genius, who are acquainted with the principles of Geometry, and who have a taste for drawing, would be the most proper assistants for a Geographer. Such, in a few days practice, may be made expert surveyors. The instrument best adapted for accuracy and dispatch is the Plain-Table; by this, the Surveyor plans as he proceeds, and not having his work to protract in the evening may attend the longer to it in the day. One of these instruments, with a chain and ten iron-shod arrows, should be provided for each of the Surveyors it may be thought proper to employ.” 

So began the Department of the Surveyor General.  Erskine’s staff included about twenty surveyors in addition to chain bearers and other assistants. Maps were first sketched on a plane table. They were then contracted in size in a reduced scale. Then, the maps were given to trained draftsmen who made final copies that included supplemental information from field notes. Copies were made by hand and then distributed to high ranking officers.

Monument and Esrkine gravesites at Ringwood Manor

The surveyor’s work was dangerous – they faced hostile enemy action, rough terrain, wild animals and the elements. Nevertheless, the maps were surprisingly accurate. Erskine’s department made operational maps of the region from the Hudson Highlands to Philadelphia and elsewhere. His unit especially emphasized the northern part of New Jersey from Jersey City westward including Passaic County. The maps depicted “surveyed and unsurveyed roads, foot paths, heights. even taverns, and other landmarks.” Over time, the unit also mapped parts of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. By the end of the war, more than 200 maps and surveys were created.

Robert Erskine died on October 2, 1780, after contracting what was probably pneumonia while making surveys in the Hudson Highlands. Washington was in attendance at Erskine’s funeral at Ringwood.

Erskine’s work had profoundly influenced the war, and Washington commemorated this contribution on March 30, 1782, when he and Martha visited Ringwood and planted an elm tree at Erskine’s grave.

Robert Erskine was an original MacGyver – as are the surveyors who came after him. No matter what the challenge – environment, terrain, difficult projects – even wars and wild animals, surveyors get the job done.

Berntsen has dedicated 50 years to supporting surveyors and they face these challenges with high quality, reliable products. We help surveyors get the job done with the right product for the challenge.

Debra Oakes
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