[1] Colonel Robert Boyd, the lieutenant governor of Gibraltar in 1770 endorsed his promotion to an aide-de-camp[1] which allowed him to later take command of a company in the 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot stationed in the American colonies.

After the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1775, Craig took part in the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he was badly wounded, but refused to leave his regiment, and participated in the defence of Quebec in 1776, where he met the American invaders at Trois-Rivières while commanding the advance guard that forced them back beyond the border.

[1] Major-General John Burgoyne, who expressed high regard for Craig as an officer, recommended him for the rank of a major in the 82nd Regiment of Foot (1777) in recognition of his service.

In 1795 he served with Vice-Admiral Viscount Keith and Major-General Alured Clarke in occupying the Cape Colony from the Dutch Republic where he became governor of the new possession,[1] and remained in that posting until 1797, for which he received the Order of the Bath.

[1] In 1805, despite poor health, he was appointed to lead the Anglo-Russian invasion of Naples, but after a brief occupation, the mission was aborted after the news of Austrian defeat at the Battle of Ulm.