Kammala jumla mai zuwa: Ferguson ya bayyana ya shiga rundunar 'yan Scots a cikin biyan Holland, mai yiwuwa a matsayin mai ba da agaji, wani lokaci a lokacin mulkin Charles II. Farkon aikinsa na farko, na mai kula da kwata a cikin rundunar Colonel Macdonald na brigade, an yi kwanan wata 12 ga Yuni 1677. Ya zama ensign a cikin rundunar a watan Satumba na 1678, kuma laftanar a watan Fabrairun 1682. Rundunarsa tana daya daga cikin wadanda aka kawo Ingila a 1685 a lokacin tawayen Monmouth. Ya zama kyaftin a 1687, kuma a 1688 ya sauka tare da William na Orange a Torbay. Rundunarsa, wanda aka fi sani da Balfour, daga baya Lauder, na ɗaya daga cikin waɗanda suka fara sauka, kuma ba da daɗewa ba aka tura su daga London zuwa Leith a ƙarƙashin Mackay. Yaƙin a
Killiecrankie, inda aka ce an kama shi, ya bar shi babban majalisa; kuma a watan Maris na 1690 Janar Mackay ya aika da shi, wanda ya bayyana shi a matsayin 'wani jami'in da ya dace, wanda ya dace da shi, wanda ya dogara da hankali da himma, a kan mutum ɗari shida, don rage tsibirin yammacin, wani sabis da ya cika da gamsarwa tare da taimakon hukumomin Glasgow da kuma hadin gwiwar Kyaftin Pottinger na Dartmouth frigate (Ferguson, pp. 1516).