The croplands were flooded by salt water, but the local Acadians quickly repaired the dikes after the raiders left, and the land was returned to production.

[5] Following the Wabanaki Confederacy of Acadia military campaign against the New England frontier during the summer of 1703, the English colonists embarked on largely unsuccessful retaliatory raids against Abenaki villages.

[7] The severity of this raid (more than 50 villagers killed and more than 100 captured) prompted calls for revenge, and the veteran Indian fighter Benjamin Church offered his services for an expedition against the French colony of Acadia (roughly present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and eastern Maine).

[10] French settlers to the area had brought with them knowledge on the constructions of dikes and levees, which they used to drain marshlands for agriculture, and to protect those lands from the inflow of the exceptionally high tides (over 6 meters, or 20 feet, in some places) for which the Bay of Fundy is well known.

The expedition was also to be one of punishment: "Use all possible methods for the burning and destroying of the enemies houses and breaking the dams of their corn grounds, and make what other spoil you can upon them".

Church sent a force to raid Pentagoet (present-day Castine, Maine), where the Frenchman Baron Saint-Castin had a fortified trading post.

Church sent a small force ashore near present-day St. Stephen, New Brunswick, where they destroyed a house and raided a nearby Maliseet encampment, killing one Indian.

Church then separated the warships, sending them to blockade the Digby Gut in the hopes of capturing a French supply ship, while the bulk of the expedition sailed for Grand Pré.

[21] The three ship captains on 24 June demanded the surrender of the garrison at Port Royal, threatening a frontal assault with 1,700 New Englanders and "Sauvages".

[24] We do also declare, that we have already made some beginnings of killing and scalping some Canada men, which we have not been wont to do or allow, and are now come with a great number of English and Indians, all volunteers, with resolutions to subdue you, and make you sensible of your cruelties to us, by treating you after the same manner.

Although he expected to reach the village by the time the hour had past, Church's force became delayed by stream crossings made more difficult by the receding tide: "But meeting with several creeks near twenty or thirty feet deep, which were very muddy and dirty, so that the army could not get over them, were obliged to return to their boats again.

"[26] Because Church's forces were stuck in the mud exposed by the retreating tide, they lost any element of surprise, and the Acadians took the opportunity to evacuate Grand Pré with some of their cattle and the "best of their goods".

[26] Church had a small cannon on his boat, which he used to fire grape shot at the attackers on the shore, who withdrew, suffering one Mi'kmaq killed and several wounded.

[2] According to uncorroborated French reports, the blockaders had made some landings in the vicinity of Port Royal, burning a few isolated houses and taking some prisoners.

Its inhabitants had by then been alerted to the English activities, and under the leadership of Father Claude Trouve[33] had removed their possessions and as much livestock as possible from the village to Chedabucto (Guysborough, Nova Scotia).

Because of the destruction of the crop and stored grain, the colony suffered a flour shortage that winter, although it was not severe enough to cause significant hardship.

These allegations continued for several years, and Dudley eventually chose to deal with them by launching the failed attacks on Port Royal in 1707.