This officer was appointed ensign in the Thirty-seventh Regiment on the 15th of April, 1774, and proceeding to North America at the commencement of the American war, he had repeated opportunities of distinguishing himself. He served at the capture of Long Island, and carried the regimental colour of his corps at the battle of Brooklyn, on the 27th of August, 1776. He also served at the capture of New York, and at the reduction of Fort Washington, and subsequently accompanied the expedition to Rhode Island; in the same year he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He proceeded with the expedition to Pennsylvania, and served at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, in 1777, and of Monmouth in 1778; also at the reduction of Mud Island. On the 10th of August, 1778, he was promoted to captain of a company in his regiment, in which rank he was present at the attack of Washington’s dragoons, in New Jersey. He proceeded with the expedition to South Carolina, and served at the siege of Charlestown, in 1780. He also shared in the fatigues, privations, and engagements of the campaign, under Major-General Earl Cornwallis, in the Carolinas and in Virginia, and was made prisoner at the surrender of York Town, on the 18th of October, 1781. On being liberated, Captain Coote returned to England, and was appointed major of the Forty-seventh Regiment in February, 1783. After serving five years in Ireland, he was nominated lieutenant-colonel of the Seventieth, in March, 1788; and in 1793 he was selected to command the first battalion of light infantry, in the expedition to the West Indies, under General Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey, who captured the islands of Martinique, St. Lucia, and Guadaloupe. Lieutenant-Colonel Coote had opportunities of distinguishing himself at the reduction of these colonies, and being afterwards sent to England with despatches, he was nominated aide-de-camp to King George III., with the rank of colonel, in 1795. In 1796 he was appointed brigadier-general on the staff of Ireland; in 1798 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and removed to the staff of South Britain; and after commanding at Dover a short period, he proceeded to Flanders, in charge of an expedition for the destruction of the sluices and works of the canal near Ostend, which was accomplished; but before the troops could re-embark, they were attacked by superior numbers, and forced to surrender. Major-General Coote was wounded on this occasion. After his exchange, he returned to his command at Dover. In 1799 he commanded a brigade in the expedition to Holland, under his Royal Highness the Duke of York; and after the return of the army, he resumed the command of the troops at Dover. In 1800 he proceeded with the expedition against Ferrol, and when the attack on that fortress was relinquished, he joined the armament in the Mediterranean, and accompanied General Sir Ralph Abercromby to Egypt. He commanded the leading division of the army which