Francis Nicholson - Queen Anne's War

Queen Anne's War

During King William's War in the 1690s Nicholson asked the House of Burgesses to appropriate money for New York's defense, since it was threatened from New France and acted as a buffer to protect Virginia. The Burgesses refused, even after Nicholson appealed to London. When Queen Anne's War broke out in 1702, Nicholson lent New York £900 of his own money, with the expectation that it would be repaid from Virginia's quit rents (it was not). The publicity of this scheme increased dislike of him in Virginia, and may have played a role in his recall. Virginia was not militarily affected by the war. These efforts by Nicholson to gain broader colonial support for the war were followed by larger proposals to London, suggesting, for example, that all of the colonies be joined under a single viceroy, who would have power of taxation and control of a standing army. According to historian John Fiske, Nicholson was one of the first people to propose uniting all of the North American colonies in this way.

During the winter of 1708–9 Samuel Vetch, a Scottish businessman with interests in New York and New England, came to London and proposed to the Queen and the Board of Trade a major assault on New France. He recruited Nicholson to join the effort, which was to include a sea-based attack on Quebec with Royal Navy support, and a land-based expedition to ascend the Hudson River, descend Lake Champlain, and attack Montreal. Nicholson was given command of the land-based effort while Vetch was to command the provincial militia of New England that were to accompany the fleet. Arriving in Boston in April 1709 Nicholson and Vetch immediately began raising the forces and supplies needed for these operations. Nicholson was able to draw on his earlier connections to New York's aristocracy to recruit the needed forces from there, with additional units coming from New Jersey and Connecticut. He raised a force of about 1,500 regulars and provincial militia and 600 Iroquois, and in June began the construction of three major encampments between Stillwater, just north of Albany, and the southern end of Lake Champlain, while awaiting word of the fleet's arrival in Boston. The expedition turned out to be a disaster. Many men became sick and died from the poor conditions in the camps as the summer dragged on without any news of the fleet. Supplies ran short the men became mutinous and began deserting. Finally, in October Nicholson learned that, due to circumstances in Europe, the fleet's participation had been canceled in July. By this time the men were deserting by whole units and destroyed all of the fortifications and stores.

In the aftermath of the debacle Nicholson returned to London, taking four Indian chiefs with him, and petitioned Queen Anne for permission to lead a more limited expedition against Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia. The Queen granted the petition, and Nicholson was in charge of the forces that captured Port Royal on 2 October 1710. This battle marked the conquest of Acadia, and began permanent British control over the territory they called Nova Scotia. Nicholson published an account of the expedition in his 1711 Journal of an Expedition for the Reduction of Port Royal. The victorious Nicholson returned to England to petition Queen Anne for another expedition to capture the center of New France, Quebec. The resulting naval expedition was led by Admiral Hovenden Walker, and Nicholson led an associated land expedition that retraced the route he had taken in 1709 toward Lake Champlain. Many ships of Walker's fleet foundered on rocks near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, and the whole expedition was cancelled, much to Nicholson's anger; he was reported to tear off his wig and throw it to the ground when he heard the news.