[3] The border area between 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.

During the 1670s the English had established settlements between the Kennebec River and Penobscot Bay, contesting claims to the area by the French and the local Abenaki people.

[10] 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 to the east and Iroquois in New York), and the Hudson River–Lake Champlain corridor had also been used for raiding expeditions in both directions in earlier conflicts.

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.

[12] 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,[13] command of a small contingent of French forces and instructions to organize raids against English settlements.

Some of the remaining were Mi'kmaq from present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and there was also a party of Kennebec from Norridgewock, which was under the direction of Father Sebastian Rale.

Another group raided Cape Porpoise, which was a desolate community inhabited principally by unshielded fishermen.

Resettlement of Scarborough started in 1702 when seven settlers arrived from Lynn, Massachusetts and construction began on a fort located on the western shore of Prout's Neck's Garrison's Cove.

Shortly after, on 6 October 200 Wabanaki went north of Falmouth to Black Point and killed or captured 19 settlers in the fields.

On August 10, 1703, under the leadership of Moxus, Wanongonet and Escumbuit, the Wabanaki appeared unarmed and sent March a message under a flag of truce; pretending they had some important matter to communicate.

They first took a sloop, two shallops, and considerable plunder; encouraged by success, they attempted for two days and nights, to undermine the fort from the water side, as was done during King William's War.

On 19 August Captain Cyprian Southack arrived on the Province Galley (ship) and relieved the siege.

[19] At the same time, under the leadership of Chief Sampson, a group of Wabanaki went south of Falmouth to York and Berwick.

)[22] Another party moved on to Berwick, ambushing a group of five New Englanders, killing one, wounding another and taking three captive.

Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley wrote that "the destruction of Quebeck and Port Royal [would] put all the Navall stores into Her Majesty's hands, and forever make an end of an Indian War",[24] the frontier between Deerfield and Wells was fortified by upwards of 2,000 men,[25] and the bounty for Indian scalps was more than doubled, from £40 to £100.

During the winter of 1705, 275 soldiers under the command of Colonel Hilton were sent to Norridgewock to seize Father Rale and sack the village.

The French drew off a great number of Indian families from the Penobscot, Norridgewock, Saco, and Pequaket tribes, and settled them at St. Francis, Canada, as a protection against the Iroquois Confederacy.