The Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre: The Boston Massacre

What began as a street brawl on King Street in Boston on March 5, 1770, turned into what today we know as The Boston Massacre.

Tensions between the British and the Americans was already high in early 1770. “More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists” (Source). Meanwhile, the Colonists were busy rebelling against the number of tax laws that had been pressed on them. They could be heard in the streets crying, “No taxation without representation!”

So, what else would happen but a riot. Snowballs, stones, and sticks were thrown. But then a British sentinel, Private Hugh White was attacked. “At some point, White fought back and struck a colonist with his bayonet” (Source). So, Captain Thomas Preston, a British officer, called in additional help. This clearly didn’t help solve the problem, because the Colonists continued to attack, some even taunting the soldiers to fire. The violence escalated, and the British soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five men and wounding six more. Preston and the other soldiers were arrested and jailed.

What resulted was the famous trial in which John Adams was called to defend them. He certainly wasn’t a loyalist, however, he wanted to be sure that the British soldiers still got a fair trail. And with them as their defender, they certainly did.

[Below: Depiction of the bloody Boston Massacre]