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''Not to be confused with the Battle of Falmouth (1690)'' The Battle of Falmouth was fought at Falmouth, Maine when the Canadiens and Wabanaki Confederacy attacked the English New Casco Fort. The battle was part of the Northeast Coast Campaign (1703) during Queen Anne's War. ==Background== (詳細はAcadia and New England in the early 18th century remained contested after battles between French and English colonists (and their allied Native Americans) during King William's War in the 1690s failed to resolve territorial disputes. New France defined the western border of Acadia as the Kennebec River in what is now southern Maine,〔William Williamson. ''The history of the state of Maine''. Vol. 2. 1832. p. 27; Griffiths, E. ''From Migrant to Acadian''. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2005. p.61; Campbell, Gary. ''The Road to Canada: The Grand Communications Route from Saint John to Quebec''. Goose Lane Editions and The New Brunswick Heritage Military Project. 2005. p. 21.〕 while the English Province of Massachusetts Bay formally claimed all of the land between the Piscataqua and St. Croix Rivers (all of present-day Maine). During the 1670s the English had established settlements between the Kennebec River and Penobscot Bay, contesting claims by the French and the local Abenaki people to the area. The French had established Catholic missions at Norridgewock and Penobscot, and there was a French settlement of long standing in Penobscot Bay near the site of modern Castine, Maine. All of these sites had been used as bases for attacks on English settlers during King William's War.〔Drake, p. 36〕 The frontier areas between the Saint Lawrence River and the primarily coastal settlements of Massachusetts and New York were still dominated by natives (primarily Abenaki and Iroquois), and the Hudson River–Lake Champlain corridor had also been used for raiding expeditions in both directions in earlier conflicts. Although the Indian threat had receded somewhat due to reductions in the native population as a result of disease and the last war, they were still seen to pose a potent threat to outlying settlements.〔Drake, p. 150〕 Although war had broken out between France and England in 1702, the frontiers between New France and New England remained quiet until December of that year, when Governor-General Louis-Hector de Callière authorized the Abenaki to resume the border war. In addition to any plunder reaped from expeditions against the English colonies, Callière promised additional gifts. Callière died in May 1703, and was replaced by Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, who vigorously promoted raiding activity as a means to maintain French influence with the Abenaki.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Biography of Louis-Hector de Callière )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Biography of Philippe Rigaud de Vaudreuil )〕 Vaudreuil gave Alexandre Leneuf de La Vallière de Beaubassin, a military officer whose family's seigneury at Beaubassin had been raided in 1696 by New England forces,〔Griffiths, pp. 117, 164–165,〕 command of a small contingent of French forces and instructions to organize raids against English settlements. Massachusetts Bay Governor Joseph Dudley did not believe that the Abenaki would go to war. In June 1703 Boston newspapers reported that the Abenaki were two thirds "for peace and one Third for warr", and Dudley had been unable to convince them to join the conflict on the English side.〔Morrison, p. 157〕 The Abenaki chief Moxus attempted to warn Dudley of Vaudreuil's aggressive posture, but Dudley brushed off these reports.〔Morrison, p. 158〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Falmouth (1703)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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