[RAYMOND] PRE-LOYALIST SETTLEMENTS OF NOVA SCOTIA 31 
did not connect himself with any single military corps as a regularly 
enrolled member, but was attached to various expeditions in the 
capacity of a volunteer. In one of his memorials to the Lords of Trade 
he mentions having served in upwards of twenty engagements by sea 
and land, always as a volunteer, and that he had never asked nor 
received one shilling for all his expenses incurred in such service. 
He attended General Braddock in his expedition against Fort 
Duquesne and was one of his staff at the disastrous wilderness battle 
in which the unfortunate commander was slain. George Washington, 
another Virginian, was one of Braddock’s aides-de-camp in the same 
battle. 
Whether Alexander McNutt served in a military capacity at the 
siege of Louisbourg in 1758 or not, is not very clear. In the early 
spring of the year 1760 he was in New England and assisted in raising 
three hundred men for His Majesty’s service at Louisbourg to replace 
the troops withdrawn for the relief of Quebec, when an attempt was 
made to recapture it by the French. 
On the occasion of his first visit to England McNutt was the bearer 
of letters from Governor Dinwiddie, which procured him an audience 
of the king. His Majesty conferred on him the honorary rank of Colonel 
and presented him with a sword in recognition of his services. The 
sword is still preserved, though despoiled of its silver mounting, chains 
and ornamental scabbard by a party of the Northern Army when they 
raided the Valley of Virginia during the Civil War. The dismantled 
relic is now in the possession of Mrs. Alexander Glasgow of Rockbridge 
county, Virginia. 
Though he afterwards showed republican proclivities and eventually 
sided with the majority of his countrymen in the war of the Revolution, 
Colonel McNutt highly valued this token of royal favor. As long as he 
lived he wore the court costume of the reign of George II, with buckles 
and ornamented buttons of silver, and trimmings of gold lace, a cocked 
hat, powdered hair and top boots. His sword never left his side, and 
it is related of him that, when quite an old man, one of his nephews 
playing about him and climbing on his knee asked him why he always 
wore a sword? He replied, “It would not do to hunt the weapon when 
the enemy is at hand.” ! 
Senator William A. Glasgow ? of Lexington, Virginia, in his sketch 
of Alexander McNutt, to which reference has already been made, 
writes:—“ His dress sword was in a silver-mounted scabbard. The 
* Mrs. McCormick’s Reminiscences and Genealogies, p. 64. 
2 Senator Wm, A. Glasgow died Oct. 1, 1910, at Lexington, Virginia, in his 85th 
year, 
