Siege of Port Royal (1707)

Siege of Port Royal (1707)
Part of Queen Anne's War (1702–1713)
Date June 17, 1704 - September 1, 1704 Location Port Royal, Nova Scotia Result French, Native and Acadian victories
Belligerents
Colonists, predominantly English	France, Natives, Acadians
Commanders and leaders
Colonel John March	Daniel d'Auger de Subercase
Strength
1100 (first siege) 1100 (second siege)	250 (first siege) 250 (second siege)
Casualties and losses
8+ killed (first siege) 200 killed (second siege)	unknown(first siege) 5 killed, 20 wounded (second siege)

The Siege of Port Royal in 1707 involved two of three attempts by the English to conquer Acadia by capturing the capital Port Royal, Nova Scotia during Queen Anne's War.

Historical context

The English had tried to conquer Acadia by laying siege to the capital Port Royal numerous times over the previous hundred years.

First Siege

The first siege during the war happened on June 17 and lasted for eleven days. Colonel John March, the most senior officer in Massachuesettes was sent to defeat the capital. Acadian governor Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, along with Bernard-Anselme d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin's warriors and many Acadians, successfully defended the capital. The New Englanders arrived with approximately 1100 troops. The French were out number by at least four to one. The French and their allies killed many of the New Englanders in the intial attack. In the follow up attack the French killed eight of the New Englanders and then they retreated to Maine on June 28.

Second Siege

Daniel d'Auger de Subercase

Colonel Francis Wainwright led the second siege on August 20. It lasted eleven days. Initially, Subercase sent out a detachment of thirty Acadians and eight aboriginal fighters to ambush the New Englanders. Other detachments carried on similar work. Subercase himself led 120 soldiers out of the fort. At the end of the two week campaign, approxiamtely seventy men engaged the New Englanders in hand-to-hand combat, which was fought with axes and musket butts. Saint-Castin, and almost twenty of their men were wounded while five others were killed. The French killed approximately 120 or 200, according to French sources, or 14 - 15 according to English sources. Again, the New Englanders retreated.

Consequences

The British made one more attempt to regain the capital of Acadia in the Siege of Port Royal (1710).

References

Endnotes

Secondary Sources

• Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme New York; W. W. Norton & Company, 2005
• Brenda Dunn, A History of Port-Royal/Annapolis Royal 1605-1800, Halifax: Nimbus, 2004.
• Griffiths, E. From Migrant to Acadian. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005.
• John Grenier. The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. Oklahoma University Press.
• John Reid, Maurice Basque, Elizabeth Mancke, Barry Moody, Geoffrey Plank, and William Wicken. 2004. The 'Conquest' of Acadia, 1710: Imperial, Colonial, an Aboriginal Constructions.
• Geoffrey Plank, An Unsettled Conquest. University of Pennsylvania. 2001
• Drake, Samuel Adams. The border wars of New England: commonly called King William's and Queen Anne's Wars