the supplies of which the remnant of the gallant
"Black Watch," as the 42nd was originally named, and a
company of whom, while out reconnoitering, had been
massacred at a spot in the vicinity of the town, thereafter
called the Bloody Run, stood so greatly in need. This
important service rendered, Mr. Erskine, in compliance
with the instructions he had received, returned to Albany,
where he reported the success of the expedition.
The colonial authorities were not regardless of his
interests. When the Ponteac confederacy had been dissolved,
and quiet and security restored in that remote region,
large tracts of land were granted to Mr. Erskine, and
other privileges accorded which eventually gave him the
command of nearly a hundred thousand dollars--enormous
sum to have been realized at that early period of the
country. But it was not destined that he should retain
this. The great bulk of his capital was expended on almost
the first commercial shipping that ever skimmed the
surface of Lakes Huron and Erie. Shortly prior to the
Revolution, he was possessed of seven vessels of different
tonnage, and the trade in which he had embarked, and of
which he was the head, was rapidly increasing his already
large fortune, when one of those autumnal hurricanes,
which even to this day continue to desolate the waters
of the treacherous lake last named, suddenly arose and
buried beneath its engulfing waves not less than six of
these schooners laden with such riches, chiefly furs, of
the West as then were most an object of barter.
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