Orme entered the British army as an
ensign in the 35th Regiment of Foot but transferred to the
Coldstream Guards in 1745. He became a lieutenant in that regiment in 1751. By the time of the French and Indian War, Orme was
aide-de-camp to
General Edward Braddock. Although officially a lieutenant, he became a
brevet captain and was known as Captain Orme. In 1755, Braddock was engaged in a push by British and American forces towards
Fort Duquesne, in what is now Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, which was held by French opposing forces. In July that year, Braddock's army was decisively ambushed by a smaller French and native Indian force in the Battle of the Monongahela with the loss of nearly 900 British and American soldiers. Braddock was mortally wounded and Orme shot in the leg. Some of the dead were scalped by the Native American allies of the French and their scalps nailed to trees in order to terrify the British. Orme escaped in the disorderly retreat and returned to England in 1755, becoming something of a celebrity as a survivor of the massacre. He resigned from the army in 1756. Orme's account of the campaign was published in 1856 in an edition edited by
Winthrop Sargent of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. ==Family==