General Robert Erskine: Mapmaker and Minemaster of the American Revolution

Robert Erskine was born a Scott who matured into a noted inventor in London. As a loyal British citizen, he chose to immigrate to America to manage the Ringwood Iron Mines. Arriving in Bergen County at the dawn of discord in the colonies, Erskine absorbed the fever for independence and aided the revolution by production in the mines and through creating obstructions to British shipping transit up the Hudson River. But he is best known as the “forgotten general” who created military maps for the Continental Army at the behest of General George Washington. These early maps indicated roads, rivers buildings and noted landowner locations and are important tools for understanding the American Revolution its history, geography and genealogy of the and how to preserve it today.

Learn more about General Erskine in this informative presentation from Rutherford Historian Billy Neumann. Registration is required.