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.