First Battle of Bloody Creek

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=First Battle of Bloody Creek
partof=Queen Anne's War (1702-1713)
date=June 10th, 1711
place=near Bridgetown, Nova Scotia
result=Native American victory
combatant2=Wabanaki Confederacy
combatant1=New England militia
British regulars
commander2=unknown
commander1=Governor Samuel Vetch
Captain David Pidgeon
strength2=unknown, perhaps in the hundreds
strength1=70 soldiers
casualties2=none known
casualties1=around 30 killed, the rest capturedThe First Battle of Bloody Creek was a successful ambush of British and New England troops by Aboriginal allies of the French during Queen Anne's War.

In 1710 an expedition of New England militia under Francis Nicholson succeeded in capturing Port-Royal, the largest settlement in the French colony of Acadia. The town was renamed Annapolis Royal and the fort Fort Anne in honour of Queen Anne, and Samuel Vetch was named governor. The garrison was reinforced with regular troops in the following months, however the British only had effective control of the fort and the nearby town.

Fort Anne was in a state of disrepair following its capture, and work parties of local Acadians were hired to cut the wood needed to make the fort serviceable. These parties were sent up the Annapolis River where they were harassed by native warriors and the needed supplies often did not make it downriver to the fort. The situation became dire enough that Vetch decided to send a force upriver to pacify the region.

The force of 70 soldiers departed Annapolis Royal on June 10th in a whaleboat and two flatboats. The whaleboat was faster on the water, and it became separated from the other two. When it reached Bloody Creek the whaleboat was confronted by a large body of Penobscot warriors who had gathered there in advance of an attack on Annapolis Royal. Although they were soon joined by the remaining troops in the flatboats, the British were badly outnumbered and soon overcome. Around 30 were killed, the rest taken prisoner.

The victory at Bloody Creek rallied local French, Acadians and Mi'kmaq and soon a force of 600 was gathered. They descended on Annapolis Royal and laid siege. Although the loss of the detachment at Bloody Creek was grievous blow to the garrison at Annapolis Royal, those troops that had been taken prisoner were traded by the French for food and supplies. The British dug in, and the besieging force could not break through. They soon dispersed, and Annapolis Royal remained in British hands for the remainder of the war.

External links

* [http://www.blupete.com/Hist/NovaScotiaBk1/Part2/Ch10.htm History of Nova Scotia]
* [http://books.google.ca/books?id=cG4wSmIlziYC&pg=PA246&lpg=PA246&dq=%22battle+of+bloody+creek%22&source=web&ots=0mT28QZXjH&sig=gG3C3kuT870vI0may0VeXl0oJWY&hl=en#PPA246,M1 From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Border People, 1604-1755]

References

*Plank, Geoffrey Gilbert (2001). An Unsettled Conquest. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812235711