On March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, a group of British soldiers fired into a rowdy crowd of colonists. Five men ended up dead, and rage and indignation filled the streets of Boston as rumors abounded and varied accounts of the event were swapped. To this day, historians are unsure of the exact order of events. No one ever did find out who ordered the British soldiers to fire. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Boston massacre, it is universally agreed upon that this event was a critical step on the road to the American Revolution.
By 1770, tensions were already high in the city of Boston. In 1767, the British Parliament had passed the Townshend Acts, which meant that American colonists had to pay considerable taxes on British goods, such as tea, glass, paint, and paper. The people of Boston chose to protest the purchasing of British goods. Those stores that sold British imports were marked and their owners harassed. On February 22, 1770, during a confrontation with a customs informer, an 11-year-old boy, Christopher Snider, was killed. After his funeral, there were multiple reports of skirmishes between British soldiers and American colonists. These culminated in the Boston Massacre on the night of March 5.
That Monday night, in light of a rumor circulating that British soldiers intended to cut down the Liberty Tree, a Bostonian symbol of rebellion, a group of colonists took to the streets to defend themselves and their town. The group began harassing a soldier posted outside of the customs house. The soldier, Hugh White, struck a colonist with his bayonet, and the colonists responded by throwing rocks and ice at White. White called for reinforcements, and when they arrived, things escalated. British soldiers report having heard a command to “Fire!” though no one ever admitted to have given such an order. Five men were killed as a result: Crispus Attucks, James Caldwell, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr.
In the aftermath, both sides hurried to pin the blame on the other. Revolutionaries took the opportunity to paint the British soldiers as bloodthirsty oppressors. Paul Revere himself engraved a scene that is now printed alongside the story in most history books (and in this post). The scene shows British soldiers instigating the fight and murdering the colonists. The event certainly curried plenty of anti-British sentiment in the city and was key in the organization of the American Revolution.
The British soldiers involved were arrested and stood trial for their part in the deaths of five men. Interestingly enough, the soldiers were represented in court by John Adams, who would go on to become the second president of the United States of America. While Adams didn’t support the British, he felt it important that the soldiers receive a fair trial so that the British government would have no further reason to shed blood in their cities. In the end, seven of the soldiers tried were acquitted and two were convicted of manslaughter, receiving a brand on their thumbs as punishment. One of the soldiers involved, Captain Thomas Preston, wrote of the event, “None of them was a hero. The victims were troublemakers who got more than they deserved. The soldiers were professionals . . . who shouldn’t have panicked. The whole thing shouldn’t have happened.”
Learn more here:
- https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-massacre
- https://www.britannica.com/event/Boston-Massacre/Aftermath-and-agitprop
- https://www.masshist.org/revolution/massacre.php