page_title: Siege of Port Royal (1710)
section_title: Siege
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Port Royal (1710) / Siege
caption_attribution_description: English: Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, a French officer, governor of Plaisance 1703-05, governor of Acadia 1706-10
context_page_description: The Siege of Port Royal, also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was a military siege conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison and the Wabanaki Confederacy under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal. The successful British siege marked the beginning of permanent British control over the peninsular portion of Acadia, which they renamed Nova Scotia, and it was the first time the British took and held a French colonial possession. After the French surrender, the British occupied the fort in the capital with all the pomp and ceremony of having captured one of the great fortresses of Europe, and renamed it Annapolis Royal.
  The siege was the third British attempt during Queen Anne's War to capture the Acadian capital, and it had profound consequences over the next 50 years. The conquest was a key element in the framing of the North American issues in French-British treaty negotiations of 1711–1713.
context_section_description: As the fleet sailed north, it was met by a dispatch vessel sent by Thomas Matthews, captain of the Chester.  She carried deserters from the French garrison, who reported that morale was extremely low.  Nicholson sent the ship ahead with one of the transports; when they entered Digby Gut they received some fire from parties of Mi'kmaq on the shore.  The ships returned fire with their cannons, without either side taking casualties.  On 5 October, the main British fleet arrived at Goat Island, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) below Port Royal.  That afternoon, the transport Caesar ran aground while attempting to enter the Annapolis River, and was eventually swept onto the rocks.  Its captain, some of its crew, and 23 soldiers died, while a company commander and some 25 others struggled ashore.
  The following day, 6 October, British marines began landing both north and south of the fortress and the town.  The northern force was joined by four New England regiments under Colonel Vetch, while Nicholson led the remaining New England troops as part of the southern force.  The landings took place without incident, with fire from the fort answered by one of the fleet's bomb ships at long range.  Although later accounts of the siege claimed Vetch's detachment was part of a strategic plan to surround the fort, contemporary accounts report that Vetch wanted to have a command that was somewhat independent of Nicholson.  These same accounts claim Vetch never got to within range of the fort's guns until after the siege ended; his attempts to erect a battery of mortars in a muddy area across Allain's Creek from the fort was repulsed by cannon fire.  The southern force met with guerrilla-style resistance outside the fort, with Acadian and aboriginal defenders firing small arms from houses and wooded areas, in addition to taking fire from the fort.  This fire resulted in three British killed, but the defenders were unable to keep the British on the south side from establishing a camp about 400 yards (370 m) from the fort.
  Over the next four days the British landed their cannons and brought them up to the camp.  Fire from the fort and supporters outside it persisted, and the British bomb ships wrought havoc within the fort with their fire each night. With the opening of new British batteries imminent, Subercase sent out an officer with a parley flag on 10 October.  The negotiations got off to a bad start because the officer was not properly announced by a drummer, and deteriorated from there.  Each side ended up holding an officer of the other, principally over matters of military etiquette, and the British continued their siege work.
  By 12 October, the siege trenches had advanced, and cannons that were within 300 feet (91 m) of the fort opened fire.  Nicholson sent Subercase a demand that he surrender, and negotiations began once more.  By the end of the day, the parties reached an agreement on the terms of surrender, which was formally signed the next day.  The garrison was allowed to leave the fort with all the honours of war, "their Arms and Baggage, Drums beating, and Colours flying." The British were to transport the garrison to France, and there were specific protections in the capitulation to protect the local residents.  These terms called for the "Inhabitants within Cannon shot of the Fort" to be allowed to remain on their properties for up to two years if they so chose, provided they were willing to take an oath to the British Crown.
caption: Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, governor of Acadia 1706–1710
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