 In 1815, he was named provincial aide-de-camp for colonial administrator Sir Gordon Drummond and, in 1816, for Governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke.In 1817, he led an attack by the North West Company against a Hudson's Bay Company fort at Île-à-la-Crosse, located in what is now Saskatchewan.In 1819, he was taken prisoner by the HBC and detained at York Factory.