He only returned to the army in March 1778, this time as a Lieutenant in the 39th Foot. France had entered the American War of Independence the previous month, meaning that he was now able to serve without fighting against the Americans. He was due to sail to Gibraltar as aide-de-camp to the lieutenant governor, Colonel Robert Boyd. On 7 April he and his younger brothers were in attendance when their father rose in the House of Lords to give a speech, in which he called for defiance against the French. Shortly after finishing his speech, their father collapsed and died a few weeks later. In John Singleton Copley's painting "The Death of the Earl of Chatham", Pitt is portrayed in military uniform at his father's side. His father's last words at Hayes were reputedly "Go my son! Go wherever your country calls you".