Robert Erskine's Map of "The Fort at Nicoll's Point" - December 1777

Robert Erskine was the General Manager of the Ringwood Ironworks in the Hudson Highlands when his mapmaking skills were called upon by the Continental Army.  His commission as Geographer and Surveyor-General to the American Army is dated July 27, 1777 but in November, George Washington was still asking Erskine when he thought he would "be able to enter upon any of the duties of the office of which I spoke to you about last summer."  This secrecy around the undertaking hints at its strategic importance to the Commander in Chief.

Small section of Erskine map.  Entire map is on-line at NYHS.

Erskine's response from Ringwood on November 24th, 1777 was that it was his resolve to start in the Spring of 1778 and devote his whole time to it.  He then added, "Meanwhile I have the satisfaction of giving some part of my time now to the public service; Govr. Clinton having accepted of my assistance at New Windsor; where I have been taking Surveys and Levels of the ground near the Chevaux-de-Frise, for a Fort; which is erecting under the direction of the French Engineer Your Excellency sent to Fort Montgomery.  I am happy to assist a gentleman of skill in his profession, from whom much of the art of practical Engineering many be learnt, and I shall return to the North River again in a few days to finish some surveys at New Windsor, Forts Constitution, Montgomery, etc." [See prior blog on Chevaux-de-Frise.]

In Robert Erskine's own index of maps, Number 1 D is the map of "Nichol's Hill, N. Rr.;Butter Hill &c."  The soldiers of that day called it "The Fort at Nicoll's Point."  This map is undoubted one of the first of his many historic maps that were used by General George Washington and the Continental Army.

The map can be seen in the digital works of the New York Historical Society.  The map location of "Nicoll's Point" today can be seen at this link.

In November of 1777 the lower Hudson Valley was still in shock over the October 6th destruction of their Forts Montgomery and Clinton and the harassment of their shores as the British fleet sailed up the Hudson enroute to the burning of the city of Kingston.  The capture of General Burgoyne's army further north at Saratoga was of little consolation.

Almost immediately upon the departure of the British fleet, river obstructions were being rebuilt or new ones planned.  Strangely enough, one obstruction of early focus was the fort and chevaux-de-frise at Nicoll's Point.  "Strange" because it had failed totally in obstructing the British fleet.  The fort's cannon were ineffective and the fleet sailed right through the sunken hull-piercers.  For more on the chevaux-de-frise go here:  http://joelcampbell1735.blogspot.com/2014/02/chevaux-de-frise.html

As evidenced by the map of Erskine, the fort was substantial and involved the work of several militia companies.  The British would never put this fortification to the test.  In fact, its usefulness would be eliminated by the imposing West Point obstruction that would be in place just six months later.

From pension records we know that many of the local militia worked on this fort in November and December of 1777.  John McMichael, a private in the Ulster county militia company of Telford, was called up "for (the) purpose of erecting a fortification at Nicol's Point near New Windsor." Similarly Christian Rockefeller of Hanover was also called up. Andrew Wilson of Hanover was only sixteen when he served at Nicoll's Pt in Capt Conklin's company as a substitute for Jacob Laurence.  Christian Young testified that he had  "marched to Newburgh and spent the "fore part of the winter" constructing a Chevaux deFrise at that place."  Samuel Crawford of Hanover similarly testified that in November 1777 he served with Capt Telford's company of militia for 2 months, "engaged in building forts at a place in the county of Orange on said North River called Nichol's Point and was quartered in a barn belonging to one Leonard Nichols where he spent Christmas day."   In this service he was a substitute for James Kidd (Kidd was his Uncle, "a man of wealth in feeble health and was in the habit of procuring substitutes to do his militia duty").

Many of the Campbells were living in the area of Capt Conklin's company mentioned above.  His company was called the West Newburgh company and he appears to have recruited from those living in eastern Hanover.  Joel is listed in a muster roll of exempts in Conklin's company in 1779.  My searches for pay records, pension records, musters, and diaries from the fort's construction have revealed very little.  There is certainly nothing that would exclude Joel, his brothers, nephews, or sons from having been a part of this construction.  In fact, it is very likely that some of them had a hand in building the fortifications and/or the chevaux-de-frise.

The original map is at the New York Historical Society, but only a photostat negative is available to researchers.  Because the on-line version is hard to read, I have included some of the map annotations below.  My clarifications are in []s.

Header:
"No. 1 D
Nichol's Hill, North Rr [Hudson River]
Butter Hill [Now Storm King Mountain], &c."

Home on the left:  "Squire Nicolls"  [Presumably where Samuel Crawford and other militia spent Christmas Day.]
At Bottom: "Murderers Creek"
The Point: "Plumb point"
To the Right:  "North River"
Below the compass symbol:  "Due North"
Top right:  "Wood land upon & round the slope of Nicols Hill is 34 1/2 acres"

Bottom Right:
"Scale  20 inches to a mile
4 chains is an inch [a chain is 22 yards]
Surveyed December 1777 by
Robt Erskine FRS"