John Nixon, born on the 4th of March, 1725, at Farmington,
Massachusetts, entered the British army at the age of twenty, taking
part in the expedition against Cape Breton and in the French and Indian
War. He commanded a company of minute-men at Lexington, and a regiment
at the battle of Bunker Hill. On the 9th of August, 1776, he received
the appointment of brigadier-general. He was in active service until
1780, when ill health, and the effects of a severe wound received at
Bunker Hill, compelled his resignation. He died on the 24th of March,
1815, at the ripe age of ninety.