252 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [ Vor. ITI. 
Soon after my father arrived in America he was sent by his uncle to Fort Detroit, in 
charge of military stores and supplies for the garrison, and having executed his 
commission, was about to return to New York, when he was prevailed upon to 
accompany an exploring party to the lakes, which set out on the 2nd of May, 1763. 
The account of that disastrous expedition was written by my father at Fort Detroit, 
immediately after his escape from the Indians, and addressed to his cousin, (Sir John 
Nisbet, of Dean) then at New York, who deeming the incidents of his captivity and 
escape sufficiently interesting to commemorate, had particularly desired to have a 
narrative of them in writing. After serving thirty years in the 42nd Regiment, (called 
the Black Watch) during which time he was engaged in both American wars, he 
quitted the army and retired to a small property, Mossburnford, in Roxburghshire. 
At a subsequent period he was appointed Major of the Dumfries Militia, under the 
command of the Earl of Dalkeith. He died at Jedburgh, on the 12th of January, 
1830, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 
