Tuhia he haere tonu mo tenei whitianga - I uru a Macdonald ki nga Queen's Own Rifles o Canada i te 13 o Oketopa 1868 hei Rifleman. I noho ia i te raumati o te tau 1866 me te 14 o nga Pirihimana o nga Miihini Miihini Miihini i te taha o Cornwall, i te tumanako ki te whakaekenga a Fenian
He aha? I eke ia ki te taumata o te Kaitiaki i mua i tana whakawhiwhinga ki a ia hei Kaitiaki i te 22 o Aperira 1870. Katahi ka uru atu a Macdonald ki te haerenga a Colonel Garnet Joseph Wolseley ka haere ki te whakataunga o Red River i Manitoba. I whakatūria te Whakatere o Wolseley ki te whakamutu i te Whakatupuranga Awa Whero a Louis Riel. Whai muri i tana whai waahi ki te hopu toto kore o Upper Fort Garry (i muri i te wehenga o Riel) ka hoki ia ki Toronto, engari ka whai waahi ki te turaki i te tutu tuarua a Riel. I reti ia i te QOR i te 26 o Paenga-whāwhā 1882 ka neke ki Winnipeg. I te wa o te tutu o te Raki-Raki i te tau 1885, i mahi a Macdonald hei rangatira i te 90th (Winnipeg) Battalion of Rifles, he waahanga i awhina ia ki te whakarite. I muri mai ka whawhai ia i Fish Creek i Saskatchewan.