In 1767 the Royal Highland Regiment left America for Ireland and Reid presumably accompanied it. In 1770 Reid retired on half-pay, intending no doubt to settle down to the enjoyment and improvement of his American estates. However, in 1772 his tenants were expelled by the people of Bennington “on the pretence of having claim to that country under the Government of New Hampshire, notwithstanding that the King in Council had, ten years before, decreed Connecticut River to be the Eastern Boundary of New York.” In 1775 war broke out with the American colonists, and though his case finally came before the Commissioners for American Claims, the only compensation awarded him was a trifling allowance for mills he had erected and for fees he had paid for surveys. In May, 1778 his father’s estate, Straloch, passed under the hammer as he was unable to pay the mortgages and his son could give him no help.
Notwithstanding that he was a comparatively poor man, in 1779-1780 Reid raised at his own expense a regiment of foot, of which he was appointed colonel. This was called the 95th and was disbanded in 1783. In 1781 Reid was promoted major-general, and in 1793 a lieutenant-general. He was appointed colonel of the 88th Regiment (Connaught Rangers) in November, 1794, and became a general in 1798. In 1803, when an invasion was hourly expected, Reid, in response to an order that all general officers not employed on the staff should transmit their addresses to the Adjutant-General, wrote that though in the eighty-second years of his age “and very deaf and infirm,” he was still ready to use his feeble arm in defence of his country. He died in the Haymarket on the 6th of February, 1807, and was buried in St. Margaret’s, Westminster.
The General would probably have had but little property to dispose of at his death, had he not in 1796 succeeded to a valuable estate of some four or five thousand acres in Nova Scotia, which was left to him by his cousin, Gen. John Small, “as a mark of ... respect ... and attachment to the preservation of his name and representation for succeeding ages.” Reid’s daughter had made a marriage of which he disapproved, she had no children, and his only brother had died in 1762 during the siege of Havana. It was probably these circumstances that induced him to realize the property in Nova Scotia and at the time of his death he was worth some £52,000. This entire fortune, went after the death of his daughter, to the University of Edinburgh to found a musical professorship. He also left directions that a concert should be given annually on or about his birthday to commence with several pieces of his own composition, among the first of which is that of the “Garb of Old Gaul,” a composition written by Sir Charles Erskine, but set to music by Reid while major of the 42nd, and which has ever since been a regimental march.
Reid also composed several military marches and was esteemed the best gentleman player on the German flute in England. It may safely be predicted that as long as the University exists this old Perthshire soldier of the 18th century will be remembered as one of its benefactors.
N. Y. Documentary History IV.
Military History of Perthshire pp. 387-395.
From “A Military History of Perthshire”
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN SMALL
(From a Medallion in the possession of
Mrs. Small of Dirnanean)