The double ambition for military and literary fame inspired his first work, which appeared in 1685 under the name
La Muse de cavalier, or
An Apology for such Gentlemen as make Poetry their Diversion not their Business. The next year saw Cutts serving as a volunteer under the
Duke of Lorraine in
Hungary, and it is said that he was the first to plant the imperial standard on the walls at the
storming of Buda (July 1686). In 1687 he published a book of
Poetical Exercises. The following year he was serving as lieutenant-colonel in
Holland. General
Hugh Mackay described Cutts about this time as "pretty tall, lusty and well shaped, an agreeable companion with abundance of wit, affable and familiar, but too much seized with vanity and self-conceit". Lieutenant-Colonel Cutts was one of
William III's companions in the English
Revolution of 1688, and in 1690 he went in command of a regiment of foot in
Ireland, where he served with distinction. He served with distinction at the
Battle of the Boyne (July 1690), and at the
siege of Limerick (1690) (where he was wounded), and King William created him
Baron Cutts, of Gowran, in the
Peerage of Ireland, on 12 December 1690. In 1691 he succeeded to the command of the brigade of the prince of Hesse (wounded at
Aughrim in July 1691), and on the
surrender of Limerick was appointed commandant of the town. In the following year he served again in
Flanders as a brigadier. His brigade of Mackay's division had been almost destroyed at
Steinkirk in August 1692. At this battle Cutts himself was wounded. From 1694 to 1707 Lord Cutts was
Governor of the Isle of Wight, including the overall command of the island's militia; he was colonel of the
East Medina Regiment. He returned to active service in 1694, holding a command in the disastrous
Brest expedition of June 1694. He was one of
Carmarthen's companions in the daring reconnaissance of
Camaret Bay, and was soon afterwards again wounded. As colonel of the
Coldstream Guards Cutts succeeded
Talmash, commander of the expedition, who died of his wounds. He served as a commissioner for settling the bank of
Antwerp in the following year, distinguishing himself again at the famous
Siege of Namur (1695), winning the name "Salamander" by his indifference to the heaviest fire. Though shot in the head while leading an attack against the citadel, he recovered to lead his men to the capture of the works. Thereafter court service and war service alternated. Cutts was deep in the confidence of William III, and acted as a diplomatic agent in the negotiations which ended in the
Peace of Ryswick of 1697. On the occasion of the great fire in Whitehall (1698) Cutts, at the head of the Coldstreamers, earned afresh the honourable nickname of "the Salamander". Later Captain
Richard Steele worked as his private secretary. In 1702, as a
major-general, Cutts served under
Marlborough in the opening campaign of the
War of the Spanish Succession of 1701-1714, and at the
1702 siege of Venlo, conspicuous as usual for romantic bravery, he led the stormers at
Fort Saint Michael. His enemies, and even the survivors of the assault, were amazed at the success of a seemingly hare-brained enterprise. Probably, however, Cutts, who was now a veteran of great and varied experience, measured the factors of success and failure better than his critics. On this occasion
Swift lampooned the lieutenant-general in his
Ode to a Salamander. Cutts made the campaign of 1703 in Flanders, and in 1704, after a visit to England, he rejoined Marlborough on the banks of the
Danube. At
Blenheim (August 1704) he was third in command, and it was his division that. bore the brunt of the desperate fighting at the village which gave its name to the battle. Blenheim was Cutts's last battle. On 23 March 1705 he was appointed
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, his last appointment. He retained formal command of the
Irish army until his death. ==Later years==