The Boston Massacre, known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street, was a confrontation on March 5, 1770, in the prelude to the American Revolution in Boston, in what was then the colony of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
In the confrontation, nine British soldiers shot several in a crowd, estimated between 300 and 400, who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. Five American colonists were killed. The event was subsequently described as "a massacre" by Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and other leading Patriots who later became central proponents of independence during the American Revolution and Revolutionary War.Joseph Conlin, The American Past: A Survey of American History, p. 133Martin J. Manning, Historical Dictionary of American Propaganda, p. 33 British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support Crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular legislation implemented by the British Parliament.
Amid tense relations between the civilians and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry and verbally abused him. He was eventually supported by seven additional soldiers, led by Captain Thomas Preston, who were hit by clubs, stones, and snowballs. Eventually, one soldier fired, prompting the others to fire without an order by Preston. The gunfire instantly killed three people and wounded eight others, two of whom later died of their wounds."Boston Massacre", Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved April 28, 2020
The crowd eventually dispersed after acting governor Thomas Hutchinson promised an inquiry, but they reformed the next day, prompting the withdrawal of the troops to Castle Island. Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder, and they were defended in court by attorney, and future U.S. president, John Adams. Six of the soldiers were acquitted; the other two were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to branding on the thumb, according to the law at that time.
Depictions, reports, and propaganda about the event, notably the colored engraving The Bloody Massacre, heightened tensions throughout the Thirteen Colonies.
Background
In the 18th century, Boston was the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, an important shipping town, and along with Philadelphia and present-day New York City, one of the most influential political, economic, and cultural cities in the Thirteen Colonies of pre-Revolutionary British America. Boston also was a center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament in the 1760s.
In 1768, the Townshend Acts were enacted in the Thirteen Colonies, placing tariffs on a variety of common items that were manufactured in Britain and imported in the colonies. Colonists objected that the Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, and constitutional rights of British subjects in the colonies. The Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Acts by sending a petition to King George III asking for the repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. The House also sent the Massachusetts Circular Letter to other colonial assemblies, asking them to join the resistance movement,Knollenberg, Growth, p. 54. and called for a boycott of merchants importing the affected goods.Ross and McCaughey, From Loyalist to Founding Father, p. 94.
Lord Hillsborough had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, and he was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768, he sent a letter to the colonial governors in America instructing them to dissolve any colonial assemblies that responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also ordered Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter, but it refused to comply.Knollenberg, Growth, p. 56.
Boston's chief customs officer Charles Paxton wrote to Hillsborough for military support because "the Government is as much in the hands of the people as it was in the time of the Stamp Act."Triber, A True Republican, p. 66. Commodore Samuel Hood responded by sending the 50-gun warship , which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768.Knollenberg, Growth, p. 63. On June 10, 1768, customs officials seized Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians were already angry because the captain of Romney had been impressing local sailors; they began to riot,Triber, A True Republican, p. 63. and customs officials fled to Castle William for protection.Ross and McCaughey, From Loyalist to Founding Father, p. 93.
Given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send "such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston",Knollenberg, Growth, 75. and the first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston on October 1, 1768.Knollenberg, Growth, p. 76. Two regiments were removed from Boston in 1769, but the 14th and the 29th Regiments of Foot remained.
The Journal of Occurrences were an anonymous series of newspaper articles which chronicled the clashes between civilians and soldiers in Boston, feeding tensions with its sometimes exaggerated accounts, but those tensions rose markedly after Christopher Seider, "a young lad about eleven Years of Age", was killed by a customs employee on February 22, 1770.Knollenberg, Growth, pp. 76–78. Seider's death was covered in the Boston Gazette, and his funeral was described as one of the largest of the time in Boston. The killing and subsequent media coverage inflamed tensions, with groups of colonists looking for soldiers to harass, and soldiers also looking for confrontation.Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, pp. 208–210.
Incident
On the evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White stood on guard duty outside the Boston Custom House on King Street (today known as State Street). A wigmaker's apprentice, approximately 13 years old, named Edward Garrick called out to Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch, accusing him of refusing to pay a bill due to Garrick's master. Goldfinch had settled the account the previous day, and ignored the insult.Allison, The Boston Massacre, 11. Private White called out to Garrick that he should be more respectful of the officer, and the two exchanged insults. Garrick then started poking Goldfinch in the chest with his finger; White left his post, challenged the boy, and struck him on the side of the head with his musket. Garrick cried out in pain, and his companion Bartholomew Broaders began to argue with White, which attracted a larger crowd.Zobel, The Boston Massacre, pp. 185–186. Henry Knox was a 19-year old bookseller who later served as a general in the revolution; he came upon the scene and warned White that, "if he fired, he must die for it."
As the evening progressed, the crowd around Private White grew larger and more boisterous. Church bells were rung, which usually signified a fire, bringing more people out. More than 50 Bostonians pressed around White, led by a mixed-race former slave named Crispus Attucks, throwing objects at the sentry and challenging him to fire his weapon. White had taken up a somewhat safer position on the steps of the Custom House, and he sought assistance. Runners alerted Captain Thomas Preston, the officer of the watch at the nearby barracks.Allison, The Boston Massacre, p. 12.Archer, As if an Enemy's Country, p. 190.
According to Preston's report, he dispatched a non-commissioned officer and six privates from the grenadier company of the 29th Regiment of Foot to relieve White with fixed bayonets.Zobel, Boston Massacre, p. 194.Archer, As if an Enemy's Country, p. 191. The soldiers were Corporal William Wemms and Privates Hugh Montgomery, John Carroll, James Hartigan, William McCauley, William Warren, and Matthew Kilroy, accompanied by Preston. They pushed their way through the crowd. Henry Knox took Preston by the coat and told him, "For God's sake, take care of your men. If they fire, you must die." Captain Preston responded "I am aware of it."Zobel, Boston Massacre, 195. When they reached Private White on the custom house stairs, the soldiers loaded their muskets and arrayed themselves in a semicircular formation. Preston shouted at the crowd, estimated between 300 and 400, to disperse.Zobel, Boston Massacre, p. 196.
The crowd continued to press around the soldiers, taunting them by yelling "Fire!", by spitting at them, and by throwing snowballs and other small objects.Zobel, Boston Massacre, p. 197. Innkeeper Richard Palmes was carrying a cudgel, and he came up to Preston and asked if the soldiers' weapons were loaded. Preston assured him that they were, but that they would not fire unless he ordered it; he later stated in his deposition that he was unlikely to do so, since he was standing in front of them. A thrown object then struck Private Montgomery, knocking him down and causing him to drop his musket. He recovered his weapon and angrily shouted "Damn you, fire!", then discharged it into the crowd although no command was given. Palmes swung his cudgel first at Montgomery, hitting his arm, and then at Preston. He narrowly missed Preston's head, striking him on the arm instead.
There was a pause of uncertain length (eyewitness estimates ranged from several seconds to two minutes), after which the soldiers fired into the crowd. It was not a disciplined volley, since Preston gave no orders to fire; the soldiers fired a ragged series of shots which hit 11 men.Zobel, Boston Massacre, 198–200. Three Americans died instantly: rope maker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks.A Short Narrative, 11. Samuel Maverick, a 17-year old apprentice ivory turner,Zobel, Boston Massacre, 191. was struck by a ricocheting musket ball at the back of the crowd and died early the next morning. Irish immigrant Patrick Carr was shot in the abdomen, an inevitably fatal wound at that time, and died two weeks later. Apprentice Christopher Monk was seriously wounded;Archer, As If an Enemy's Country, 196. he was crippled and died in 1780, purportedly due to the injuries that he had sustained in the attack a decade earlier.Allison, The Boston Massacre, x.
The crowd moved away from the immediate area of the custom house but continued to grow in nearby streets.Zobel, Boston Massacre, p. 201. Captain Preston immediately called out most of the 29th Regiment, which adopted defensive positions in front of the state house.York, "Rival Truths", p. 61. Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson was summoned to the scene and was forced by the movement of the crowd into the council chamber of the state house. From its balcony, he was able to minimally restore order, promising that there would be a fair inquiry into the shootings if the crowd dispersed.Bailyn, Ordeal, p. 158.
Aftermath
Investigation