Queen Anne's War (1702–13) was the second in a series of four French and Indian Wars fought between France and England (later Great Britain).In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were unified as the Kingdom of Great Britain, sharing a single Parliament at Westminster under the Act of Union 1707. After this, Scottish troops joined their English counterparts in all colonial wars. in North America for control of the continent and was the counterpart of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe. In addition to the two main combatants, the war also involved a number of American Indian tribes and Spain, which was allied with France.

Florida

Early in the war, the Spanish attacked Charleston, South Carolina and were repulsed. In response, in the 1702 Siege of St. Augustine (1702), 500 English soldiers and militia along with 300 Indians captured and burned the town of St. Augustine in the Spanish province of Florida. The English were unable to take the main fortress of St. Augustine, however, so they considered the campaign a failure. While the Spanish maintained control over Florida, their mission system was destroyed in the conflict and was never rebuilt. Carolina was successful in defeating a second attack on Charles Town in 1706 by a combined Spanish and French amphibious force sent from Havana.

The Apalachee of Spanish Florida were decimated in what became known as the Apalachee Massacre of 1704. The surviving Apalachee were relocated to the Savannah River frontier of South Carolina under a kind of serfdom. They later took part in the Yamasee War of 1715.

New England and Acadia

In 1703, New England settlements from Wells in the District of Maine to Falmouth (present-day Portland, Maine) and Haverhill, Massachusetts were ravaged by five hundred Indians and a few Canadians led by Leneuf de Beaubassin. Over 160 settlers were killed or taken prisoner. In February 1704, Hertel de Rouville with 250 Abenakis and Caughnawaga Indians and 50 French Canadians in the Deerfield massacre destroyed the settlement, 150 settlers were killed or taken prisoner. In 1709, Vaudreuil reported that two thirds of the fields north of Boston were unattended and the war parties were returning without prisoners because the colonists stayed in their forts and would not come out.

In July, 1704, New England colonists successfully attacked the French settlements of Minas and Beaubassin in Acadia. In July 1704, more than 500 colonials failed in a 18 day siege to capture the Acadian fort at Port Royal. In May 1707, Joseph Dudley led another failed expedition of over 1,600 men to take the fort. In January 1709, the French using a combination of Canadian and Mi'kmaq volunteers captured St. John's and destroyed the fortifications. In September 1710, 3,600 British and colonial forces led by Francis Nicholson captured Port Royal after a siege of one week, ending French control of the peninsular portion of Acadia (present-day mainland Nova Scotia).

Quebec

The French were opposed to attacking the Province of New York because they were reluctant to arouse the Iroquois, whom they feared more than the British. Meanwhile, the New York merchants were opposed to attacking New France, because it would interrupt the Indian fur trade which was coming through New France. In 1701 the Iroquois had signed the Great Peace of Montreal with the French, and they maintained their neutrality early in the war. When Nicholas led a failed land expedition against Quebec, in 1709, the Iroquois promised minimal support, but delayed until the expedition had been called off. In 1710, Peter Schuyler, the Albany commissioner of Indians, went to London with King Hendrick and other sachems to arouse interest in the Northwest frontier. In 1711, with the Walker Expedition and the associated Nicholson Expedition of 1711, the British planned a joint naval and land attack against Quebec City, the capital of New France. When the fleet led by Hovenden Walker was partially sunk while travelling up the St. Lawrence River, the naval and land expeditions were called off. In this expedition the Iroquois provided several hundred warriors, but they also sent warnings of the expedition to the French.

Aftermath

In 1712, an armistice was declared. Under terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, Britain gained Acadia (which they renamed Nova Scotia), the island of Newfoundland, the Hudson Bay region, and the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. France was required to recognize British suzerainty over the Iroquois, and commerce with the far Native Americans would be open to all nations. The French did not comply with the commerce provision, however, as they attempted to prevent British trade with the far Indians and erected Fort Niagara in Iroquois territory.

The peace lasted until the outbreak of the next colonial war, Dummer's War, in 1724.