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Boston Massacre- PBS.org
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Boston Massacre- Reading through History Video

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Boston Massacre- Reading through History Video

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Boston Massacre 1770
Five colonists were killed by British Troops in Boston on March 5th 1770. The event was precipitated by taunts against British soldiers in Boston. The British responded with force and fired their muskets at the Americans, killing 3 instantly and wounding 11. Two of the wounded soon died. The death of the colonists, in what became known as the Boston Massacre, inflamed American opinion against the British and was one of the most significant events leading up to the Revolution.
From the moment the British decided to send troops to Boston it was only a matter of time before British troops were likely to clash with the colonists. That day came on March 5th 1770. In that early evening a British sentry was guarding the custom house on King Street, (what is today "State Street" in downtown Boston.) Colonists began to taunt the sentry. Soon a crowd grew. With the crowd growing, the Officer of the Day, Captain Thomas Preston, ordered seven or eight soldiers under his command to support the sentry. Preston soon followed. By the time the additional troops arrived the crowd had grown to between 300 and 400 hundred men. The ever-growing crowd continued to taunt the British soldiers whose muskets were loaded. The crowd then began pelting the sentries with snowballs.

A colonist knocked one of the soldiers down. As the soldier got up, he fired his musket, and then yelled "Damm you, fire". There was a pause and then the British soldiers fired on the colonists. Three Americans-- rope maker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and an African American sailor named Crispus Attucks died instantly. Samuel Maverick, struck by a ricocheting musket ball at the back of the crowd, died a few hours later in the early morning of the next day. Thirty-year-old Irish immigrant Patrick Carr died two weeks later.

This event quickly became known as "the Boston Massacre". Thanks to the efforts of Boston engraver, Paul Revere, who copied a drawing made by Henry Pelham, the illustration of the above events soon made its way throughout the colonies. The illustration stirred the anger of Americans towards the British. Captain Preston and four of his men were arrested and charged with manslaughter.

The soldiers were tried in open court, with John Adams acting as one of the Defense Attorneys. Preston was found "not guilty", as it became clear it was unlikely that he gave the order to fire. The other soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and punished by having their thumbs branded.

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In the years following the Boston Massacre, playwright Mercy Otis Warren wrote that "No previous outrage had given a general alarm, as the commotion on the fifth of March, 1770."

Although the first protests against British taxation were organized by wealthy colonists, it was the people who held no property, paid few or no taxes, and could not vote who suffered most directly from the conflict between Britain and the colonies. The boycott of British goods organized by the Sons of Liberty meant a loss of work or business for mechanics and shopkeepers. Men and boys, especially seamen, were subject to impressment into the British armed forces. British soldiers quartered in Boston, New York and other cities took away scarce jobs from sailors, dock laborers and other working people, among whom blacks were liberally represented.

Whether enslaved or free, Boston's Africans were certainly among the most vulnerable. Up until the middle of the 18th century, local slave codes regulated free blacks, Indians and mulattos as well. Socially and economically, most free blacks occupied the lowest positions in colonial society, and along with Catholics, Jews, Indians and women, they were generally denied full citizenship. Perhaps more than for any other group, slogans such as "Liberty and Property!" resonated loudly for northern blacks.

As the number of soldiers quartered in Boston increased, so did tensions between them and local residents. A number of skirmishes were documented in the years between the Stamp Act riots and the Boston Massacre. In September 1768, a Boston newspaper reported an incident in which British troops were "severely whipped" by a mostly black group in a fight on the Common.

A fight between soldiers and ropemakers on Friday, March 2, 1770 ignited a series of confrontations that led to the Boston Massacre the following Monday. Crispus Attucks, a mulatto sailor, ropemaker, and runaway and the first to be killed, was one of a number of seaman and dock workers present. In his legal defense of the soldiers, future president John Adams called Attucks the leader of "such a rabble of Negroes, &c. as they can collect together." In his closing argument, he emphasized the roles of Attucks and "a Carr from Ireland" in an attempt to play on anti-black and anti-Irish sentiment.

The middle and upper class patriots who orchestrated the large-scale anti-British actions, and who wrote many of the more than 400 pamphlets that circulated prior to the war -- among them Samuel Adams and James Otis -- had often decried the fighting and destruction of property by mob action. Yet the outrage generated by the Boston Massacre provided the patriot propagandists with an unparalleled opportunity to unite the colonists in common cause. Where before they had attempted to distance themselves from the behavior of the laboring classes, they now attempted to shape it.

The men who John Adams described as "the most obscure and inconsiderable that could have been found upon the continent" were suddenly recast as sympathetic figures, as noble men, as fathers and sons. As many as ten thousand of Boston's sixteen thousand citizens marched in the funeral procession to Faneuil Hall, that included "a long train of carriages belonging to the principal gentry in the town." In the years that followed, the anniversary of the Boston Massacre was observed in a solemn public ceremony designed to stir revolutionary fervor and promote popular support for independence.

Image Credit: Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society

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Africans in America/Part 2/Boston Massacre

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In the years following the Boston Massacre, playwright Mercy Otis Warren wrote that "No previous outrage had given a general alarm, as the commotion on the fifth of March, 1770."

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Learn about the Boston Massacre where five colonies were killed by the British. Major event in the American Revolutionary War.

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What was the Boston Massacre?

Why did the Boston Massacre happen?

Why was the Boston Massacre important?

Boston Massacre, (March 5, 1770), skirmish between British troops and a crowd in Boston, Massachusetts. Widely publicized, it contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in much of colonial North America in the years before the American Revolution.

Prelude

In 1767, in an attempt to recoup the considerable treasure expended in the defense of its North American colonies during the French and Indian War (1754-63), the British Parliament enacted strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties in the colonies. Those duties were part of a series of four acts that became known as the Townshend Acts, which also were intended to assert Parliament's authority over the colonies, in marked contrast to the policy of salutary neglect that had been practiced by the British government during the early to mid-18th century. The imposition of those duties-on lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea upon their arrival in colonial ports-met with angry opposition from many colonists in Massachusetts. In addition to organized boycotts of those goods, the colonial response took the form of harassment of British officials and vandalism. Parliament answered British colonial authorities' request for protection by dispatching the 14th and 29th regiments of the British army to Boston, where they arrived in October 1768. The presence of those troops, however, heightened the tension in an already anxious environment.

The killing of Christopher Seider and the end of the rope

Early in 1770, with the effectiveness of the boycott uneven, colonial radicals, many of them members of the Sons of Liberty, began directing their ire against those businesses that had ignored the boycott. The radicals posted signs (large hands emblazoned with the word importer) on the establishments of boycott-violating merchants and berated their customers. On February 22, when Ebenezer Richardson, who was known to the radicals as an informer, tried to take down one of those signs from the shop of his neighbour Theophilus Lillie, he was set upon by a group of boys. The boys drove Richardson back into his own nearby home, from which he emerged to castigate his tormentors, drawing a hail of stones that broke Richardson's door and front window. Richardson and George Wilmont, who had come to his defense, armed themselves with muskets and accosted the boys who had entered Richardson's backyard. Richardson fired, hitting 11-year-old Christopher Seider (or Snyder or Snider; sources differ on his last name), who died later that night. Seemingly, only the belief that Richardson would be brought to justice in court prevented the crowd from taking immediate vengeance upon him.

With tensions running high in the wake of Seider's funeral, brawls broke out between soldiers and rope makers in Boston's South End on March 2 and 3. On March 4 British troops searched the rope works owned by John Gray for a sergeant who was believed to have been murdered. Gray, having heard that British troops were going to attack his workers on Monday, March 5, consulted with Col. William Dalrymple, the commander of the 14th Regiment. Both men agreed to restrain those in their charge, but rumours of an imminent encounter flew.

From mob to "massacre"

On the morning of March 5 someone posted a handbill ostensibly from the British soldiers promising that they were determined to defend themselves. That night a crowd of Bostonians roamed the streets, their anger fueled by rumours that soldiers were preparing to cut down the so-called Liberty Tree (an elm tree in what was then South Boston from which effigies of men who had favoured the Stamp Act had been hung and on the trunk of which was a copper-plated sign that read "The Tree of Liberty") and that a soldier had attacked an oysterman. One element of the crowd stormed the barracks of the 29th Regiment but was repulsed. Bells rang out an alarm and the crowd swelled, but the soldiers remained in their barracks, though the crowd pelted the barracks with snowballs. Meanwhile, the single sentry posted outside the Customs House became the focus of the rage for a crowd of 50-60 people. Informed of the sentry's situation by a British sympathizer, Capt. Thomas Preston marched seven soldiers with fixed bayonets through the crowd in an attempt to rescue the sentry. Emboldened by the knowledge that the Riot Act had not been read-and that the soldiers could not fire their weapons until it had been read and then only if the crowd failed to disperse within an hour-the crowd taunted the soldiers and dared them to shoot ("provoking them to it by the most opprobrious language," according to Thomas Gage, commander in chief of the British army in America). Meanwhile, they pelted the troops with snow, ice, and oyster shells.

In the confusion, one of the soldiers, who were then trapped by the patriot mob near the Customs House, was jostled and, in fear, discharged his musket. Other soldiers, thinking they had heard the command to fire, followed suit. Three crowd members-including Crispus Attucks, a Black sailor who likely was formerly enslaved-were shot and died almost immediately. Two of the eight others who were wounded died later. Hoping to prevent further violence, Lieut. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson, who had been summoned to the scene and arrived shortly after the shooting had taken place, ordered Preston and his contingent back to their barracks, where other troops had their guns trained on the crowd. Hutchinson then made his way to the balcony of the Old State House, from which he ordered the other troops back into the barracks and promised the crowd that justice would be done, calming the growing mob and bringing an uneasy peace to the city.

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Boston Massacre | History, Facts, Site, Deaths, & Trial

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Boston Massacre, the famous skirmish between British troops and a crowd in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 5, 1770. Widely publicized, the violent event contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in much of colonial North America in the years before the outbreak of the American Revolution.

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On March 5, 1770 an angry altercation between British soldiers and American colonists inflamed passions that would eventually lead to revolution.

Boston, Massachusetts was a hotbed of radical revolutionary thought and activity leading up to 1770.

In March 1770, British soldiers stationed in Boston opened fire on a crowd, killing five townspeople and infuriating locals.

What became known as the Boston Massacre intensified anti-British sentiment and proved a pivotal event leading up to the American Revolution.

Boston, cradle of revolution

Even before the event that went down in history as the Boston Massacre, Boston, Massachusetts was a center of radical revolutionary ideas and sentiment. The colonists had endured years of conflict with British officials, and the number of people living in poverty and/or unemployed was growing in the city. With so many idle young men competing for work, there was bound to be trouble as British rule became more onerous.

After the Seven Years' War had drained Britain's coffers, the royal government imposed tighter controls over its North American colonies in order to raise revenues. When customs officials complained about the difficulties of collecting from disobedient colonists, Britain sent troops to impose order. The arrival of British soldiers in October 1768 heightened tensions in a city already on the edge of an uprising.

Over the next two years, Boston existed in a state of virtual British military occupation-one out of three men in the city was a Redcoat, a common nickname for British soldiers due to the color of their uniforms. Radical townspeople and idle young men harassed the soldiers, leading to numerous skirmishes and scuffles.

The Boston Massacre

In March 1770, British officials ordered the removal of all occupants of the Boston Manufactory House-a halfway house for people living in poverty, those who were ill, and those who were homeless-so that a regiment of British soldiers could be garrisoned there. The Manufactory House's homeless occupants put up a resistance, and the British backed down, but other confrontations ensued.

On March 5th, one such confrontation turned violent. As a mob of angry townspeople encircled a British sentry shouting insults and throwing rocks and sticks, nervous Redcoats opened fire into the crowd, killing five Bostonians and wounding several others. One of the victims was Crispus Attucks, a free sailor of African and Native American descent who has gone down in history as the first casualty of the American Revolution.

Local newspapers eulogized Attucks and the others as martyrs to British tyranny. Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, two of Boston's most influential revolutionaries, proved adept propagandists. Revere is known for producing the most famous depiction of the incident-though in reality he merely copied the original engraving by young Boston-area artist Henry Pelham. The image was published in the Boston Gazette and circulated widely, stoking the flames of anti-British anger and revolutionary righteousness. Pro-British Loyalists promoted an alternate narrative, accusing agitators in the crowd of deliberately provoking the incident. Nevertheless, the radical narrative proved far more influential.

The colonists did not want to give the British a pretext for retaliation, and so preparations were made to ensure a fair trial. A young lawyer named John Adams, despite his commitment to the revolutionary cause, agreed to defend the Redcoats, all but two of whom were acquitted.

Even though British troops were recalled from Boston, the incident inflamed hostilities and intensified revolutionary sentiment among the colonists. For the revolutionaries, the so-called massacre demonstrated the corrupting influence of standing armies and the tyranny of the British. It was a major signpost on the road to revolution; indeed, John Adams later claimed that the "foundation of American independence was laid" that fateful day of March 5, 1770.

What do you think?

Why do you think the incident in March 1770 happened in Boston and not somewhere else?

In your opinion, was the Boston Massacre truly a massacre? Who do you think was at fault for the incident?

How important was the Boston Massacre in the events leading up to the American Revolution?

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The Boston Massacre (article) | Khan Academy

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Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
Tensions between the American colonists and the British were already running high in the early spring of 1770. Late in the afternoon, on March 5, a crowd of jeering Bostonians slinging snowballs gathered around a small group of British soldiers guarding the Boston Customs House.
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Boston Massacre- Ducksters
Boston Massacre- Ducksters 
 American Revolution for Kids: Boston Massacre
American Revolution for Kids: Boston Massacre
Kids learn about the Boston Massacre where five colonies were killed by the British. Major event in the American Revolutionary War.
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Boston Massacre- Britannica
Boston Massacre- Britannica
 Boston Massacre | United States history
Boston Massacre | United States history
Boston Massacre , (March 5, 1770), skirmish between British troops and a crowd in Boston , Massachusetts . Widely publicized, it contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in much of North America in the years before the American Revolution .
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Boston Massacre- Khan Academy
Boston Massacre- Khan Academy
 The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770 an angry altercation between British soldiers and American colonists inflamed passions that would eventually lead to revolution.
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The Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry.

The presence of British troops in the city of Boston was increasingly unwelcome. The riot began when about 50 citizens attacked a British sentinel. A British officer, Captain Thomas Preston, called in additional soldiers, and these too were attacked, so the soldiers fired into the mob, killing 3 on the spot (a black sailor named Crispus Attucks, ropemaker Samuel Gray, and a mariner named James Caldwell), and wounding 8 others, two of whom died later (Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr).

A town meeting was called demanding the removal of the British and the trial of Captain Preston and his men for murder. At the trial, John Adams and Josiah Quincy II defended the British, leading to their acquittal and release. Samuel Quincy and Robert Treat Paine were the attorneys for the prosecution. Later, two of the British soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter.

The Boston Massacre was a signal event leading to the Revolutionary War. It led directly to the Royal Governor evacuating the occupying army from the town of Boston. It would soon bring the revolution to armed rebellion throughout the colonies.

Note that the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768 was not met by open resistance.

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On March 5, 1770, tensions between the American colonists and Britain finally erupted in violence in Boston.

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Boston Massacre- Boston Massacre Society

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Boston Massacre- Boston Massacre Society

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Myths of the Boston Massacre

Starting from the name itself, this landmark event of the American Revolution proved to be a magnet for popular myths and misconceptions.

It was not called the "The Boston Massacre" until many years after it occurred in 1773. The first popular name popularized by Paul Revere was The Bloody Massacre in King Street. In the early 1800's it was also called the State Street Massacre.

In many history books the dramatic shooting is described as the spark that ignited the Revolutionary War. Perhaps one of the reasons is the loss of human lives. In reality there were several other historic milestones although less dramatic, that moved Boston towards the revolution. Townshend Acts, Stamp Act and Boston Tea Party were some of them.

One of the most interesting myths is that the scuffle on King's street started from the accusations thrown at one of the British officers that he did not pay the wigmaker's bill. This makes an interesting story and many of us may speculate that perhaps the most famous protest would not have occurred if the bill had been paid on time. But on the contrary to the popular myth, the British officer Captain John Goldfinch in fact settled his bill the day earlier.

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Your complete resource on the event. Pictures, documents, location, trial, participants, timeline and much more.

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Why Did the Boston Massacre Happen?

Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain's tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, "no taxation without representation."

Skirmishes between colonists and soldiers-and between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists)-were increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers.

On February 22, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalist's store. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots.

Several days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come.

How Many Died After Violence Erupted?

On the frigid, snowy evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was the only soldier guarding the King's money stored inside the Custom House on King Street. It wasn't long before angry colonists joined him and insulted him and threatened violence.

At some point, White fought back and struck a colonist with his bayonet. In retaliation, the colonists pelted him with snowballs, ice and stones. Bells started ringing throughout the town-usually a warning of fire-sending a mass of male colonists into the streets. As the assault on White continued, he eventually fell and called for reinforcements.

In response to White's plea and fearing mass riots and the loss of the King's money, Captain Thomas Preston arrived on the scene with several soldiers and took up a defensive position in front of the Custom House.

Worried that bloodshed was inevitable, some colonists reportedly pleaded with the soldiers to hold their fire as others dared them to shoot. Preston later reported a colonist told him the protestors planned to "carry off [White] from his post and probably murder him."

The violence escalated, and the colonists struck the soldiers with clubs and sticks. Reports differ of exactly what happened next, but after someone supposedly said the word "fire," a soldier fired his gun, although it's unclear if the discharge was intentional.

Once the first shot rang out, other soldiers opened fire, killing five colonists-including Crispus Attucks, a local dockworker of mixed racial heritage-and wounding six. Among the other casualties of the Boston Massacre was Samuel Gray, a rope maker who was left with a hole the size of a fist in his head. Sailor James Caldwell was hit twice before dying, and Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally wounded.

Boston Massacre Fueled Anti-British Views

Within hours, Preston and his soldiers were arrested and jailed and the propaganda machine was in full force on both sides of the conflict.

Preston wrote his version of the events from his jail cell for publication, while Sons of Liberty leaders such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams incited colonists to keep fighting the British. As tensions rose, British troops retreated from Boston to Fort William.

Paul Revere encouraged anti-British attitudes by etching a now-famous engraving depicting British soldiers callously murdering American colonists. It showed the British as the instigators though the colonists had started the fight.

It also portrayed the soldiers as vicious men and the colonists as gentlemen. It was later determined that Revere had copied his engraving from one made by Boston artist Henry Pelham.

John Adams Defends the British

It took seven months to arraign Preston and the other soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and bring them to trial. Ironically, it was American colonist, lawyer and future President of the United States John Adams who defended them.

Adams was no fan of the British but wanted Preston and his men to receive a fair trial. After all, the death penalty was at stake and the colonists didn't want the British to have an excuse to even the score. Certain that impartial jurors were nonexistent in Boston, Adams convinced the judge to seat a jury of non-Bostonians.

During Preston's trial, Adams argued that confusion that night was rampant. Eyewitnesses presented contradictory evidence on whether Preston had ordered his men to fire on the colonists.

But after witness Richard Palmes testified that, "...After the Gun went off I heard the word 'fire!' The Captain and I stood in front about half between the breech and muzzle of the Guns. I don't know who gave the word to fire," Adams argued that reasonable doubt existed; Preston was found not guilty.

The remaining soldiers claimed self-defense and were all found not guilty of murder. Two of them-Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy-were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on the thumbs as first offenders per English law.

To Adams' and the jury's credit, the British soldiers received a fair trial despite the vitriol felt towards them and their country.

Aftermath of the Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre had a major impact on relations between Britain and the American colonists. It further incensed colonists already weary of British rule and unfair taxation and roused them to fight for independence.

Yet perhaps Preston said it best when he wrote about the conflict and said, "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."

Over the next five years, the colonists continued their rebellion and staged the Boston Tea Party, formed the First Continental Congress and defended their militia arsenal at Concord against the redcoats, effectively launching the American Revolution. Today, the city of Boston has a Boston Massacre site marker at the intersection of Congress Street and State Street, a few yards from where the first shots were fired.

Sources

After the Boston Massacre. John Adams Historical Society.
Boston Massacre Trial. National Park Service: National Historical Park of Massachusetts.
Paul Revere's Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
The Boston Massacre. Bostonian Society Old State House.
The Boston "Massacre." H.S.I. Historical Scene Investigation.

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Boston Massacre: Causes, Date & Facts | HISTORY

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The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston between American colonists and British soldiers. It helped pave the way for the American Revolution.