[7][8] The conquest of Acadia by Great Britain began with the 1710 capture of the provincial capital, Port Royal.

French officer François Dupont Duvivier led an attack on raided the British outpost at Canso, capturing the small garrison of the 40th Regiment of Foot without incident.

The governor of Ile Royal, Jean-Baptiste Prévost du Quesnel, lacking the troop strength to attack Annapolis Royal, recruited the militant French priest Jean-Louis Le Loutre to raise a force of Acadians and Indians to assault the Nova Scotian capital.

Le Loutre raised a force of 300 Mi'kmaq and Maliseet, and arrived before Annapolis Royal's main fortification, Fort Anne, on 12 July 1744.

[10] The next morning he approached the fort and the Governor of Nova Scotia, Paul Mascarene responded by firing a cannon, which lead Duvivier to withdraw.

On the morning of 7 September, Duvivier sent his younger brother to the fort under a flag of truce carrying a message that said British resistance was futile.

The French troops and Mi'kmaq attacked the wall of the fort each night and conducted daily raids around the ramparts.

[11] During the siege Duvivier waited weeks for French vessels to arrive to reinforce his attack, while Mascarene awaited for support from Boston.