ERSKINE, JAMES [SSNE 8002]

Surname

ERSKINE, ERSKIN, ARSKYN, ASKIJN

First name

JAMES

Title/rank

COLONEL

Nationality

SCOT

Social status

OFFICER

Text source

Colonel James Erskine was an officer in the Scots-Dutch brigade throughout the Thirty Years' War. He received his commission as captain on 8 April 1617, taking over Thomas Erskine's company in Colonel Brog's [SSNE 7842] regiment. By 1621 he was in command of 120 men with a wage of £1655. By 8 May 1631 he was sergeant-major of the regiment, and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel after the death of Brog and the promotion of Sir James Sandilands [SSNE 4996] to colonel on 13 March 1636.

Erskine, after Sandilands' death, assumed command of the regiment on 2 March 1639, and became the most senior colonel of the brigade. He distinguished himself at the passage of Lys in 1644. Evidently, while Prince Frederick Henry's army was building a bridge of boats to cross the river, Erskine had "not the patience to wait till it should be finished" and decided to cross a reed bridge with his regiment. He then chased enemy troops into fort St. Angel, which he then took, killing or imprisoning all those inside.

Erskine survived the Eighty Years' War, and, in 1649 continued commanding the old regiment with James Balfour [SSNE 8009] as his Lieutenant-Colonel and Walter Murray as his sergeant-major. He remained colonel until his death in 1655. After his death, the Scots-Dutch Brigade was reformed from three regiments into two, with John Kirkpatrick [SSNE 4977] and Walter Scott [SSNE 4997] in command, seniority falling to Kirkpatrick.

N.B: Prince Frederick Henry's army at Lys: Prince of Orange's Horse Guards, three regiments of Scots brigade (Erskine, Kirkpatrick, Balfour), four French regiments (Hauterive, d'Estrades, Douchant, Coligny), four regiments Anglo-Dutch brigade (Craven, Herbert, Goring, Cromwell), the National Dutch Regiment (Hoorn).

 

Sources:

J. Ferguson, Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in theservice of the United Netherlands, 1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 229, 308, 314, 315, 317, 318, 319, 322, 328, 329, 331-333, 466.

 

This entry created by Mr Jack Abernethy.

Service record

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, COL. BROG

Arrived 1617-04-08, as CAPTAIN

Departed 1631-05-08, as SERGEANT-MAJOR

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

 

Arrived 1631-05-08, as SERGEANT-MAJOR

Departed 1636-03-13, as LIEUTENANT-COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, COL. SANDILANDS

Arrived 1636-03-13, as LIEUTENANT-COLONEL

Departed 1639-03-02, as COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, COL. ERSKINE

Arrived 1639-03-02, as COLONEL

Departed 1655-12-31, as DECEASED

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY