Key Facts
- Date
- October 18–20, 1696
- Duration
- 2 days
- New England force size
- 400 men
- Part of larger expedition
- Church's Acadian campaign, 1696
- Retaliation for
- French and Indian Siege of Pemaquid (1696)
Strategic Narrative Overview
Colonel John Hathorne and Major Benjamin Church led approximately 400 New England soldiers northward from Boston as part of a broader punitive expedition against Acadian communities. On October 18, 1696, the force reached Fort Nashwaak, the seat of Acadian government, and laid siege. The siege lasted two days before concluding on October 20, forming one episode in Church's wider campaign targeting multiple Acadian settlements along the coast and interior.
01 / The Origins
King William's War (1689–1697) pitted English colonial forces against French Canada and their Indigenous allies across northeastern North America. In 1696, French and Indigenous forces besieged and captured the English fort at Pemaquid, in present-day Maine. This blow prompted Massachusetts Bay authorities to authorize a retaliatory expedition into Acadia, targeting French settlements and the Acadian capital at Fort Nashwaak on the Saint John River.
03 / The Outcome
The siege of Fort Nashwaak ended after two days without a decisive English capture of the fort. The broader Church expedition harassed several Acadian communities but did not fundamentally alter French control of Acadia. King William's War itself concluded with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, which largely restored the pre-war status quo between England and France in North America, leaving Acadia's political status unresolved until subsequent conflicts.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Colonel John Hathorne, Major Benjamin Church.
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.