Semiquincentennial

As March 5, 1770 dawned, tensions between colonists and British soldiers were running high as a consequence of troops occupying Boston to enforce civil law for two long years already.  The presence of soldiers to enforce order inflamed resentment.  The town was a powder keg ready to explode.

Trouble began in late February when a schoolboy named Christopher Snider was shot and killed by a British loyalist during a melee.  The boy's funeral, organized by Samuel Adams, drew thousands of angry Bostonians.

On March 2, a British soldier, seeking a job, was told to clean my shithouse.  This triggered rioting.

On Monday, March 5, rumor had it that there would again be trouble.  The town was filled with people, mostly boys and young men milling about.  Many from out of town.  This was one of many brawls and arguments that broke out in Boston on that day.  

This one began innocently enough with a dispute over a barber bill.  A wig maker's apprentice was pestering an army officer, tailing him all over town, insulting him about the debt - which had, in truth, been paid. Eventually the officer entered a tavern on King Street opposite the State House.  The apprentice continued his harassment outside.  A solitary sentry on guard at the nearby Custom House joined the argument and struck the boy with the barrel of his musket.  A crowd began to gather, someone rang a church bell - normally used as a fire alarm - and more people arrived.  Many had sticks and clubs.

At the 29th Regiment's nearby HQ, Captain Thomas Preston 'walked up and down for near half an hour' wondering what to do.  The lone sentry was surrounded by hostile citizens and clearly in danger.  Finally, Preston led a detail to the Custom House to escort the sentry to safety.  Upon arrival Preston and his eight men found themselves surrounded.  For fifteen minutes the crowd grew uglier as the mob confronted the soldiers.  Insults and profanities were hurled.  Ice chunks were thrown at the soldiers.  Snowballs mixed with horse dung from the street were thrown at the troopers.  A club was thrown hitting one of the redcoats and knocking him to the ground.  Under stress and confusion and presaging events at Kent State two hundred years later - the trooper stood and fired at point-blank range.  More shots followed.  

Preston frantically ordered his men to cease fire; but three already lay dead and two more were dying.  Five colonists were killed including an African American - Crispus Attucks - remembered as the first violent casualty of the Revolution.  Several other Bostonians were wounded.

Samuel Adams and Paul Revere played this for all it was worth for its value as propaganda.  Their perennial villain, Lt. Gov. Hutchinson was forced to evacuate the troops to Castle Island in the harbor.

Revere's engraving of the Bloody Massacre was plagiarized from an illustration by Henry Pelham and was factually inaccurate but was terrific agitprop.  Prints were sold throughout Boston, the other colonies and made their way to England. 

But Boston was not ready for war and with the troops removed the situation quieted-down.  Two ardent patriots, John Adams (future president) and Josiah Quincy  defended the soldiers in court and won an acquittal for all but two of them.  The two found guilty of manslaughter were branded on their thumbs and set free.  

First installed in 1887, the circular brick memorial was in the middle of the street near where it was said Crispus Attucks fell.  It's been moved three times since with the present location selected so visitors would be less likely to be struck by traffic. 

The incident deepened colonial hostility toward Britain and contributed to unifying the opposition further laying the groundwork for the Revolution.

click on image to read the grave marker