Siege of St. John's

Extract of a 1744 map showing southeastern Newfoundland. Plaisance is marked in blue, St. John's and smaller English settlements are marked in red.

Date	1 February – 5 March 1705
Location	St. John's, Newfoundland
Result	French assault called off after heavy losses

Belligerents

France
Mi'kmaq
Abenakis

England

Commanders and leaders

Daniel d'Auger de Subercase
Josué Dubois Berthelot de Beaucours
Chief Escumbuit
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville
Jacques Testard de Montigny

John Moody
Robert Latham

Strength

450

Fort William garrison, 50–60 soldiers and militia

Casualties and losses

200

3 killed
200 civilians captured

The Siege of St. John's was a failed attempt by French forces led by Daniel d'Auger de Subercase to take the fort at St. John's, Newfoundland during the winter months of 1705, in Queen Anne's War. Leading a mixed force of regulars, militia, and Indians, Subercase burned much of the town and laid an ineffectual siege against the fort for five weeks between late January and early March 1705. Subercase lifted the siege after running out of provisions and gunpowder.

The siege was part of a larger-scale expedition that was an attempt to repeat the highly destructive expedition led by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1696. Many outlying English communities were destroyed by Subercase's men, leading to reprisal raids by the English. Fishing activities on both sides suffered for the duration of the war, which ended with the French cession of its claims to Newfoundland.

The island of Newfoundland had been contested territory between France and England for some time before Queen Anne's War broke out in 1702. French raids during King William's War in the 1690s had completely destroyed almost all of the English settlements, including the principal port of St. John's, located on the east side of the Avalon Peninsula of southeastern Newfoundland. However, an English squadron led by Sir John Gibson and Sir John Morris persuaded the displaced fishermen to return and rebuild along their side of the peninsula. The Treaty of Ryswick signed in September 1697 led to the English receiving Newfoundland and the French retaining Acadia. However, the terms of the treaty became void when the French re-established their capital in Plaisance, on the Avalon Peninsula's west side.

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