Having succeeded to the Earldom, Chatham spent the following year in Gibraltar before transferring to the West Indies with a newly raised regiment, the 86th Foot. By the end of 1781 he was back in Britain and in 1782 obtained a Captaincy in the London-based 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards. Although he was appointed Colonel in October 1793 and Major General in February 1795, Chatham does not appear to have undertaken any military duties for nearly fifteen years after the end of the War of American Independence in 1783.