[1] Murray's father had been attainted and exiled for taking part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and in 1749 James joined him in the Netherlands.
[2] Murray's father obtained a commission for him as a lieutenant of the Saxon Army's Grenadier Guards, with a two-year leave to complete his studies.
Taking up his commission in 1751, he served in the Seven Years' War, battling the Prussians until the capitulation that followed the Siege of Pirna.
[2] Returning to Scotland, he was given a captain's commission in his uncle's regiment, the Black Watch, and was placed in command of one of the companies being raised for the French and Indian War.
He was at first thought mortally wounded, but was up and about in a few weeks, and had regained health and appetite by the time he was invalided home to England.
However, the wound left him permanently disabled, and unable to lie down for the rest of his life, sleeping in an upright posture.
He joined the Brigade of Guards in North America in March 1777, where he was wounded during the Philadelphia campaign.