page_title: Military history of the Miꞌkmaq people
section_title: King William's War
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of the Miꞌkmaq people / 17th century / King William's War
caption_attribution_description: English: Maliseet and Mi'kmaw "attack on the [Maine] settlement"
context_page_description: Miꞌkmaq militias were made up of Miꞌkmaq warriors who worked independently as well as in coordination with the Wabanaki Confederacy, French and Acadian forces throughout the colonial period to defend their homeland Miꞌkmaꞌki against the English. The Miꞌkmaq militias deployed effective resistance for over 75 years before the Halifax Treaties were signed. In the nineteenth century, the Miꞌkmaq "boasted" that, in their contest with the British, the Miꞌkmaq "killed more men than they lost". In 1753, Charles Morris stated that the Miꞌkmaq have the advantage of "no settlement or place of abode, but wandering from place to place in unknown and, therefore, inaccessible woods, is so great that it has hitherto rendered all attempts to surprise them ineffectual". Leadership on both sides of the conflict employed standard colonial warfare, which included scalping non-combatants. After some engagements against the British during the American Revolution, the militias were dormant throughout the nineteenth century, while the Miꞌkmaq people used diplomatic efforts to have the local authorities honour the treaties.
context_section_description: During King William's War, the Miꞌkmaq militia participated in defending against the British migration toward Miꞌkmaki. They fought, with the support of their Wabanaki and French allies, the British along the Kennebec River in southern Maine which was the natural boundary between Acadia and New England. Toward this end, the Miꞌkmaq militia and the Maliseet operated from their headquarters at Meductic on the Saint John River. They joined the New France expedition against present-day Bristol, Maine (the Siege of Pemaquid (1689)), Salmon Falls and present-day Portland, Maine. Miꞌkmaq tortured the British prisoners taken during these conflicts and the Battle of Fort Loyal. In response, the New Englanders retaliated by attacking Port Royal and present-day Guysborough. In 1692, Miꞌkmaq from across the region participated in the Raid on Wells (1692). In 1694, the Maliseet participated in the Raid on Oyster River at present-day Durham, New Hampshire.
  Two years later, New France, led by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, returned and fought a naval battle in the Bay of Fundy before moving on to raid Bristol, Maine again. In the lead up to this battle in Fundy Bay, on July 5, 140 natives (Miꞌkmaq and Maliseet), with Jacques Testard de Montigny and Chevalier, from their location of Manawoganish island, ambushed the crews of four English vessels. Some of the English were coming ashore in a long boat to get firewood. A native killed five of the nine men in the boat. The Miꞌkmaq burned the vessel under the direction of Father Florentine (missionary to the Micmacs at Chignectou).
  In retaliation for the Siege of Pemaquid (1696) that followed, the New Englanders, led by Benjamin Church, engaged in a Raid on Chignecto (1696) and the siege of the Capital of Acadia at Fort Nashwaak. After the Siege of Pemaquid (1696), d'Iberville led a force of 124 Canadians, Acadians, Miꞌkmaq and Abenakis in the Avalon Peninsula Campaign. They destroyed almost every English settlement in Newfoundland, over 100 English were killed, many times that number captured, and almost 500 deported to England or France.
caption: Maliseet and Miꞌkmaw "attack on the [Maine] settlement" (c. 1690)
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