At age sixteen he joined the Forty Second Highlanders (Black Watch) Regiment, and went with his unit to the Netherlands and what is now Belgium.
In 1761 Macleod attended the Niagara Conference held between Sir William Johnson and Pontiac.
Macleod heard a rumor that Pontiac was being paid ten shillings a day by the British and this was creating resentment among other Indians which would "end in his ruin.
[4] Macleod sent Johnson a bottle of oil from a lake which the Indians thought had curative powers; he negotiated a peace between the Seneca and Mississauga tribes.
[5] When the French and Indian War ended the army put Macleod on half-pay.