Despite the fact that England and France were not a war, governor William Shirley of Massachusetts ordered the assembly of an Anglo-American force in Boston. It consisted of colonial militia units from Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. The objective was the invasion and conquest of Acadia. On June 30, the expedition sailed into the Bay of Fundy under the command of two British officers, Colonels Robert Monckton and John Winslow.
On 19 June, the Anglo-American force landed near Fort Beausejour on the southern coast of Acadia (New Brunswick). The commander of the French garrison, Here de Vergor, surrendered the fort after offering only token resistance. The commander at Fort Gaspereau surrendered without a fight soon afterward. By 30 June, the Anglo-American force had occupied all of Acadia. Monckton and Winslow ordered the inhabitants to swear allegiance to King George II. Many refused. As a consequence, the British governor, confronted with a guerrilla resistance campaign by a small number of the Acadians, forcibly dispersed them to the English colonies along the Atlantic seaboard and as far away as Louisiana.
