Queen Anne's War - Technology and Organization

Technology and Organization

Military technology used in North America was not as developed as it was in Europe. Only a few colonial settlements had stone fortifications (among them St. Augustine, Boston, Quebec, and St. John's) at the start of the war, although Port Royal's fortifications were completed early in the war. Some frontier villages were protected by wooden palisades, but many had little more than fortified wooden houses with gun ports through which defenders could fire, and overhanging second floors from which they might fire down on attackers trying to break in below. Europeans were typically armed with smooth-bore muskets that had a maximum range of about 100 yards (91 m), but were inaccurate at ranges beyond half that distance. Some colonists also carried pikes, while Indian warriors were either supplied with European arms, or were armed with more primitive weapons like tomahawks and bows and arrows. A small number of colonists had training in the operation of cannon and other types of artillery; these were the only effective weapons for attacking significant stone or wooden defenses.

English colonists were generally organized into militia companies, and their colonies had no regular military presence beyond a small number in some of the communities of Newfoundland. The French colonists were also organized into militias, but they also had a standing defense force called the troupes de la marine. This force consisted of some experienced officers, and was manned by recruits sent over from France. Numbering between 500 and 1,200, they were spread throughout the territories of New France, with concentrations in the major population centers. Spanish Florida was defended by a few hundred regular troops; Spanish policy was to pacify the Indians in their territory and not to provide them with weapons. This policy had devastating consequences: before the war, Florida held an estimated 8,000 Indians, but this was reduced to 200 after English raids made early in the war.