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{{Short description|1770 shooting by British soldiers}}
{{For|the 2013 bombing|Boston Marathon bombing}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Good article}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = Boston Massacre
| width = 
| partof = the [[American Revolution]]
| image = The Boston Massacre MET DT2086.jpg
| image_size = 
| alt = 
| caption = ''The Bloody Massacre'' by [[Paul Revere]], a 1770 engraving depicting the Boston Massacre in March 1770
| date = {{start date and age|1770|03|05|p=yes}}
| place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]], [[British America]]
| coordinates = {{coord|42|21|31.6|N|71|03|25.8|W|region:US-MA_type:event|display=inline,title}}
| causes = {{unordered list|[[Townshend Acts]]|Occupation of Boston|Killing of [[Christopher Seider]] and the pardon of his killer}}
| map_type = 
| map_relief = 
| map_size = 
| map_marksize = 
| map_caption = 
| map_label = 
| territory = 
| result = Five American colonists killed{{Infobox event
| title = 
| child = yes
| type = [[Gun violence|Shooting]], [[manslaughter]]
| accused = *[[Thomas Preston (British Army officer)|Thomas Preston]]
*William Wemms
*[[Hugh Montgomery (British Army soldier)|Hugh Montgomery]]
*John Carroll
*James Hartigan
*William McCauley
*William Warren
*[[Matthew Kilroy (British Army soldier)|Matthew Kilroy]]
*Four civilians
| convicted = Montgomery, Kilroy
| charges = [[Murder]]
| verdict = *Montgomery and Kilroy found [[Guilt (law)|guilty]] on the [[Lesser included offense|lesser offense]] of [[manslaughter]]
*Remaining accused found [[Acquittal|not guilty]]
| sentence = '''Montgomery, Kilroy:'''<br/>[[Human branding#As punishment|Branding]] of the thumb
}}
| status = 
| combatants_header = 
| side1 = [[29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot|29th Regiment]]
| side2 = Mob of colonists
| combatant3 = 
| leadfigures1 = [[Thomas Preston (British Army officer)|Captain Thomas Preston]]
| leadfigures2 = None
| commander3 = 
| units1 = 
| units2 = 
| units3 = 
| howmany1 = 8
| howmany2 = 300–400
| strength3 = 
| casualties1 = Minor injuries
| casualties2 = Five killed
| casualties3 = 
| notes = 
| campaignbox = 
}}

The '''Boston Massacre''', known in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] as the '''Incident on King Street''',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stmuscholars.org/the-incident-on-king-street/#marker-70431-1 |title=The Incident on King Street: the Boston Massacre of 1770 |last=Zavala |first=Cesar |date=24 March 2017 |website=StMU Research Scholars |publisher=St. Mary's University of San Antonio, Texas |quote=The shooting became known as the Boston Massacre to all people in the colonies and as The Incident on King Street to the people of Great Britain.}}</ref> was a confrontation, on March 5, 1770, during the [[American Revolution]] in [[Boston]] in what was then the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial-era]] [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]].

In the confrontation, nine [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British soldiers]] shot several in a crowd, estimated between 300 and 400, who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. The event was subsequently described as "a massacre" by [[Samuel Adams]], [[Paul Revere]], and other leading [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] who later became central proponents of independence during the American Revolution and [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].<ref>Joseph Conlin, ''The American Past: A Survey of American History'', p. 133</ref><ref>Martin J. Manning, ''Historical Dictionary of American Propaganda'', p. 33</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/event/Boston-Massacre#ref329397 "Boston Massacre"], ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''. Retrieved April 28, 2020</ref>

The crowd eventually dispersed after acting governor [[Thomas Hutchinson (governor)|Thomas Hutchinson]] promised an inquiry, but they reformed the next day, prompting the withdrawal of the troops to [[Castle Island (Massachusetts)|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 [[Human branding|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==
{{main|American Revolution}}
[[File:2009 BostonMassacre site 3658174192.jpg|thumb|[[Old State House (Boston)|Old State House]] in [[Boston]], the capital of the [[Province of Massachusetts]] during the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial era]] from 1713 to 1776; the cobblestone circle is labeled "Site of the Boston Massacre", but the Boston Massacre occurred nearby on what now is a busy Boston street.]]
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 [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]] in the 1760s.<ref name=K54/>

In 1768, the [[Townshend Acts]] were enacted in the Thirteen Colonies, placing tariffs on a variety of common items that were manufactured in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] and imported in the colonies. Colonists objected that the Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, and constitutional [[Rights of Englishmen|rights of British subjects]] in the colonies.<ref name=K54/> The Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Acts by sending a petition to [[George III of the United Kingdom#American War of Independence|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,<ref name=K54>Knollenberg, ''Growth'', p. 54.</ref> and called for a boycott of merchants importing the affected goods.<ref>Ross and McCaughey, ''From Loyalist to Founding Father'', p. 94.</ref>

[[Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire|Lord Hillsborough]] had recently been appointed to the newly created office of [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|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 [[Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet|Francis Bernard]] to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter, but it refused to comply.<ref>Knollenberg, ''Growth'', p. 56.</ref>

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 1765|Stamp Act]]."<ref>Triber, ''A True Republican'', p. 66.</ref> Commodore [[Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood|Samuel Hood]] responded by sending the 50-gun warship {{HMS|Romney|1762|6}}, which arrived in [[Boston Harbor]] in May 1768.<ref>Knollenberg, ''Growth'', p. 63.</ref> On June 10, 1768, customs officials seized ''[[HMS Liberty (1768)|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 [[impressment|impressing]] local sailors; they began to riot,<ref>Triber, ''A True Republican'', p. 63.</ref> and customs officials fled to [[Fort Independence (Massachusetts)|Castle William]] for protection.<ref>Ross and McCaughey, ''From Loyalist to Founding Father'', p. 93.</ref>

{{quote box|width=35%|align=right|quote=Daniel Calfe declares, that on Saturday evening the 3rd of March, a camp-woman, wife to James McDeed, a grenadier of the 29th, came into his father's shop, and the people talking about the affrays at the ropewalks, and blaming the soldiers for the part they had acted in it, the woman said, "the soldiers were in the right;" adding, "that before Tuesday or Wednesday night they would wet their swords or bayonets in New England people's blood."|source=—Excerpt from ''A Short Narrative'', suggesting that the soldiers were contemplating violence against the colonists<ref>''A Short Narrative'', p. 17.</ref>}}

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",<ref>Knollenberg, ''Growth'', 75.</ref> and the first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston on October 1, 1768.<ref>Knollenberg, ''Growth'', p. 76.</ref> Two regiments were removed from Boston in 1769, but the [[West Yorkshire Regiment|14th]] and the [[29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot|29th]] Regiments of Foot remained.<ref name=K76_8/>

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.<ref name=K76_8>Knollenberg, ''Growth'', pp. 76–78.</ref> 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.<ref>Middlekauff, ''Glorious Cause'', pp. 208–210.</ref>

==Incident==
[[File:Boston Massacre, 03-05-1770 - NARA - 518262.jpg|thumb|A variation of [[Paul Revere]]'s famous engraving, produced just prior to the [[American Civil War]], which emphasizes [[Crispus Attucks]], the black man in the center who became an important symbol for abolitionists.<ref>O'Connor, ''The Hub'', p. 56.</ref>]]
[[File:BostonMassacre byAlonzoChappel1878.png|thumb|An 1868 print by [[Alonzo Chappel]] showing a more chaotic scene than most earlier representations]]
[[File:Boston Massacre victims headstone (36128).jpg|thumb|A grave marker for the [[Granary Burying Ground]] in [[Boston]], where those killed in the Boston Massacre were buried]]
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/news/the-boston-massacre-245-years-ago|title=Remembering the Boston Massacre|last=Andrews|first=Evan|website=HISTORY|language=en|access-date=2020-02-20}}</ref> Goldfinch had settled the account the previous day, and ignored the insult.<ref name=Allison11>Allison, ''The Boston Massacre'', 11.</ref> 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.<ref>Zobel, ''The Boston Massacre'', pp. 185–186.</ref> [[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."<ref name=Allison11/>

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 [[Thomas Preston (British Army officer)|Captain Thomas Preston]], the officer of the watch at the nearby barracks.<ref>Allison, ''The Boston Massacre'', p. 12.</ref><ref>Archer, ''As if an Enemy's Country'', p. 190.</ref> 

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.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 194.</ref><ref>Archer, ''As if an Enemy's Country'', p. 191.</ref> The soldiers were Corporal William Wemms and Privates [[Hugh Montgomery (British Army soldier)|Hugh Montgomery]], John Carroll, James Hartigan, William McCauley, William Warren, and [[Matthew Kilroy (British Army soldier)|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."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bostonmassacre/prestontrialexcerpts.html|title=Account of the trial of Captain Preston|website=law2.umkc.edu|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref> Captain Preston responded "I am aware of it."<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', 195.</ref> 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.<ref name=Z196>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 196.</ref>

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.<ref name=Z197>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 197.</ref> 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.<ref name=Z197/>

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.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', 198–200.</ref> Three Americans died instantly: rope maker [[Samuel Gray (Boston Massacre)|Samuel Gray]], mariner James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks.<ref name=ShortNarrative11>''A Short Narrative'', 11.</ref> Samuel Maverick, a 17-year old apprentice ivory turner,<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', 191.</ref> 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.<ref name=ShortNarrative11/> Apprentice Christopher Monk was seriously wounded;<ref>Archer, ''As If an Enemy's Country'', 196.</ref> he was crippled and died in 1780, purportedly due to the injuries that he had sustained in the attack a decade earlier.<ref>Allison, ''The Boston Massacre'', x.</ref><ref name=Miller395/>

The crowd moved away from the immediate area of the custom house but continued to grow in nearby streets.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 201.</ref> Captain Preston immediately called out most of the 29th Regiment, which adopted defensive positions in front of the state house.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 61.</ref> Acting Governor [[Thomas Hutchinson (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.<ref name=Bailyn158>Bailyn, ''Ordeal'', p. 158.</ref>

==Aftermath==

===Investigation===
Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and Preston and the eight soldiers were arrested by the next morning.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 205.</ref> Boston's selectmen then asked him to order the troops to move from the city out to Castle William on [[Castle Island (Massachusetts)|Castle Island]],<ref name=Bailyn158/> while colonists held a town meeting at [[Faneuil Hall]] to discuss the affair. The governor's council was initially opposed to ordering the troop withdrawal, and Hutchinson explained he did not have the authority to ''order'' the troops to move. Lieutenant Colonel [[William Dalrymple (British Army officer)|William Dalrymple]] was the commander of the troops, and he did not offer to move them.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 63.</ref> The town meeting became more restive when it learned of this; the council changed its position and unanimously ("under duress", according to Hutchinson's report) agreed to request the troops' removal.<ref name=Bailyn159>Bailyn, ''Ordeal'', p. 159.</ref> Secretary of State [[Andrew Oliver]] reported that, had the troops not been removed, "they would probably be destroyed by the people—should it be called rebellion, should it incur the loss of our charter, or be the consequence what it would."<ref name=Bailyn161>Bailyn, ''Ordeal'', p. 161.</ref> The 14th was transferred to Castle Island without incident about a week later, with the 29th following shortly after,<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 64.</ref> leaving the governor without effective means to police the town.<ref name=Bailyn161/> The first four victims were buried with ceremony on March 8 in the [[Granary Burying Ground]], one of [[Boston]]'s oldest burial grounds. Patrick Carr, the fifth and final victim, died on March 14 and was buried with them on March 17.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 66.</ref>

{{quote box|width=35%|align=right|quote=Mr. John Gillespie, in his deposition, (No. 104) declares that, as he was going to the south end of the town, to meet some friends at a public house, he met several people in the streets in parties, to the number, as he thinks, of forty or fifty persons; and that while he was sitting with his friends there, several persons of his acquaintance came in to them at different times, and took notice of the numbers of persons they had seen in the street armed in the above manner [with clubs].… About half an hour after eight the bells rung, which [Gillespie] and his company took to be for fire; but they were told by the landlord of the house that it was to collect the mob. Mr. Gillespie upon this resolved to go home, and in his way met numbers of people who were running past him, of whom many were armed with clubs and sticks, and some with other weapons. At the same time a number of people passed by him with two fire-engines, as if there had been a fire in the town. But they were soon told that there was no fire, but that the people were going to fight the soldiers, upon which they immediately quitted the fire-engines, and swore they would go to their assistance. All this happened before the soldiers near the custom-house fired their muskets, which was not till half an hour after nine o'clock; and it [shows] that the inhabitants had formed, and were preparing to execute, a design of attacking the soldiers on that evening.|source=—Excerpt from ''A Fair Account'', suggesting that the colonists planned the attack on the soldiers<ref>''A Fair Account'', pp. 14–15</ref>}}

On March 27, the eight soldiers, Captain Preston, and four civilians were indicted for murder; the civilians were in the Customs House and were alleged to have fired shots.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", pp. 59–60.</ref> Bostonians continued to be hostile to the troops and their dependents. General Gage was convinced that the troops were doing more harm than good, so he ordered the 29th Regiment out of the province in May.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 228.</ref> Governor Hutchinson took advantage of the on-going high tensions to orchestrate delays of the trials until later in the year.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 229.</ref>

===Media battle===
[[File:The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or The Bloody Massacre by Henry Pelham.jpg|thumb|[[Henry Pelham (engraver)|Henry Pelham]]'s original engraving, ''The Bloody Massacre'', depicting the Boston Massacre]]
In the days and weeks following the incident, a propaganda battle was waged between [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] and [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] in [[Boston]]. Both sides published pamphlets that told strikingly different stories, and which were principally published in [[London]] in a bid to influence opinion there. The ''Boston Gazette''{{'s}} version of events, for example, characterized the massacre as part of an ongoing scheme to "quell a Spirit of Liberty", and harped on the negative consequences of quartering troops in the city.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 68.</ref>

[[Henry Pelham (engraver)|Henry Pelham]], an engraver and half-brother of celebrated portrait painter [[John Singleton Copley]], depicted the event in an engraving. Silversmith and engraver [[Paul Revere]] copied<ref>{{cite book|last1=Copley|first1=John Singleton|last2=Pelham|first2=Henry|title=Letters & papers of John Singleton Copley and Henry Pelham, 1739-1776|url=https://archive.org/details/letterspapersofj00copl_0/page/83/mode/1up|publisher=The Massachusetts historical society|location=Boston|date=1914|page= 83}}</ref> the image and is often credited as its originator. The engraving contained several inflammatory details. Captain Preston is shown ordering his men to fire, and a musket is seen shooting out of the window of the customs office, which is labeled "Butcher's Hall".<ref>Triber, ''A True Republican'', p. 80.</ref> Artist Christian Remick hand-colored some prints.<ref name="ReferenceA">Fischer, ''Paul Revere's Ride'', 24.</ref> Some copies of the print show a man with two chest wounds and a somewhat darker face, matching descriptions of Attucks; others show no black victim. The image was published in the ''Boston Gazette'' and circulated widely, and it became an effective anti-British editorial. The image of soldiers in red uniforms and wounded men with red blood was hung in farmhouses throughout New England.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ross|first=Jane|title=Paul Revere – Patriot Engraver|journal=Early American Life|pages=34–37|date=April 1975}}</ref>

Anonymous pamphlets were published describing the event from significantly different perspectives. ''A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre'' was published under the auspices of the Boston town meeting, principally written by [[James Bowdoin]], a member of the governor's council and a vocal opponent of British colonial policy, along with Samuel Pemberton and Joseph Warren.<ref>Walett, pp. 330–333.</ref> It described the shooting and other lesser incidents that took place in the days before as unprovoked attacks on peaceful, law-abiding inhabitants and, according to historian Neal Langley York, was probably the most influential description of the event.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 70.</ref> The account which it provided was drawn from more than 90 depositions taken after the event, and it included accusations that the soldiers sent by Captain Preston had been deployed with the intention of causing harm.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 72.</ref> In the interest of minimizing impact on the jury pool, city leaders held back local distribution of the pamphlet, but they sent copies to other colonies and to London, where they knew that depositions were headed which Governor Hutchinson had collected.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", pp. 73–74.</ref> A second pamphlet entitled ''Additional Observations'' on the ''Short Narrative'' furthered the attack on crown officials by complaining that customs officials were abandoning their posts under the pretense that it was too dangerous for them to do their duties; one customs official had left Boston to carry Hutchinson's gathered depositions to London.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 77.</ref>

Hutchinson's depositions were eventually published in a pamphlet entitled ''A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance in Boston'',<ref name="York74"/> drawn mainly from the depositions of soldiers. Its account of affairs sought to blame Bostonians for denying the validity of Parliamentary laws. It also blamed the city's citizens for the lawlessness preceding the event, and claimed that they set up an ambush of the soldiers.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 75.</ref> As it was not published until well after the first pamphlet had arrived in London, it had a much smaller impact on the public debate there.<ref name="York74">York, "Rival Truths", p. 74.</ref>

===Trials===
[[File:John Adams (1766).jpg|thumb|[[John Adams]], who would later become the 2nd President of the United States, defended the soldiers, six of whom were acquitted.]]
[[File:Boston_Massacre,_Boston_Gazette_newspaper_clipping,_1770-03-12.png|thumb|The March 12, 1770 newspaper report in the ''Boston Gazette'', four days after the funeral; the illustration of the coffins depicts the initials of the four victims buried that day.]]
{{Blockquote| text=The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the [[Boston martyrs|Quakers]] or [[Salem witch trials|Witches]], anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right.

This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of Standing Armies.
|source=[[John Adams]], on the third anniversary of the massacre<ref>Adams and Butterfield, ''Diary'', p. 79.</ref>}}

The government was determined to give the soldiers a fair trial so that there could be no grounds for retaliation from the British and so that moderates would not be alienated from the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] cause. Several lawyers refused to defend Preston due to their [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] leanings,{{non sequitur|date=March 2024 |reason=see talk Lawyers }} so he sent a request to [[John Adams]], pleading for him to work on the case. Adams was already a leading Patriot and was contemplating a run for public office, but  he agreed to help in the interest of ensuring a fair trial.<ref name=Z220>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 220.</ref> He was joined by [[Josiah Quincy II]] after Quincy was assured that the [[Sons of Liberty]] would not oppose his appointment, and by Loyalist Robert Auchmuty.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', pp. 220–221.</ref> They were assisted by [[Sampson Salter Blowers]], whose chief duty was to investigate the jury pool, and by Paul Revere, who drew a detailed map of the bodies to be used in the trial.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 268.</ref><ref>Cumming, ''The Fate of a Nation'', p. 24.</ref> Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney [[Robert Treat Paine]] were hired by the town of Boston to handle the prosecution.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 81.</ref> The defense team believed it was advantageous for Preston and the enlisted men to be tried separately and obtained such a separation. Preston was tried in late October 1770 and acquitted after the jury was convinced that he had not ordered the troops to fire.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', pp. 243–265.</ref>

The trial of the eight other soldiers opened on November 27, 1770.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 269.</ref> Adams told the jury to look beyond the fact that the soldiers were British. He referred to the crowd that had provoked the soldiers as "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and molattoes, Irish [[Taig|teagues]] and outlandish Jack Tarrs" (sailors).<ref>Zinn, ''A People's History of the United States'', p. 67.</ref> He then stated, "And why we should scruple to call such a set of people a mob, I can't conceive, unless the name is too respectable for them. The sun is not about to stand still or go out, nor the rivers to dry up because there was a mob in Boston on the 5th of March that attacked a party of soldiers."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://theamericanscholar.org/black-lives-and-the-boston-massacre/|title=Black Lives and the Boston Massacre|date=2018-12-03|website=The American Scholar|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref>

Adams also described the former slave [[Crispus Attucks]], saying "his very look was enough to terrify any person" and that "with one hand [he] took hold of a bayonet, and with the other knocked the man down."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Harvey, Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMWSDwAAQBAJ&q=had+hardiness+enough+to+fall+in+upon+them,+and+with+one+hand+took+hold+of+a+bayonet,+and+with+the+other+knocked+the+man+down.&pg=PT130|title="A few bloody noses" : the realities and mythologies of the American Revolution|date=2003|publisher=Overlook Press|isbn=1-58567-414-1|oclc=54927034}}</ref> However, two witnesses contradict this statement, testifying that Attucks was {{convert|12|–|15|ft}} away from the soldiers when they began firing, too far away to take hold of a bayonet.<ref name=":0" /> Adams stated that it was Attucks's behavior that, "in all probability, the dreadful carnage of that night is chiefly to be ascribed."<ref name=":1" /> He argued that the soldiers had the legal right to fight back against the mob and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, they were at most guilty of [[manslaughter]].<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 291.</ref>

The jury agreed with Adams's arguments and acquitted six of the soldiers after 2{{frac|1|2}} hours of deliberation. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter because there was overwhelming evidence that they had fired directly into the crowd. The jury's decisions suggest that they believed that the soldiers had felt threatened by the crowd but should have delayed firing.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 294.</ref> The convicted soldiers pled [[benefit of clergy]], the right to a lesser sentence for a first offender. This reduced their punishment from a death sentence to branding of the thumb in open court.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', pp. 285–286, 298.</ref>

Patrick Carr's deathbed account of the event also played a role in exonerating the eight defendants of murder charges. The testimony of [[John Jeffries]] is reprinted below:

{{poemquote|Q:  Were you Patrick Carr's surgeon?
A:  I was.
Q:  Was he [Carr] apprehensive of his danger?
A:  He told me... he was a native of Ireland, that he had frequently seen mobs, and soldiers called upon to quell them... he had seen soldiers often fire on the people in Ireland, but had never seen them bear half so much before they fired in his life.
Q:  When had you the last conversation with him?
A:  About four o'clock in the afternoon, preceding the night on which he died, and he then particularly said, he forgave the man whoever he was that shot him, he was satisfied he had no malice, but fired to defend himself.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/trial-summary4.htm|title=Boston Massacre Historical Society|website=www.bostonmassacre.net|access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref>}}

Justices [[Edmund Trowbridge]] and [[Peter Oliver (loyalist)|Peter Oliver]] instructed the jury, and Oliver specifically addressed Carr's testimony: "this Carr was not upon oath, it is true, but you will determine whether a man just stepping into eternity is not to be believed, especially in favor of a set of men by whom he had lost his life". Carr's testimony is one of the earliest recorded uses of the [[dying declaration]] exception to the inadmissibility of hearsay evidence in United States legal code.<ref>Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Bristol. [https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ma-supreme-judicial-court/1169261.html ''Commonweslth v. Ralph Nesbitt''.] (SJC 9824) 452 Mass. 236 (2008)</ref>

The four civilians were tried on December 13.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 84.</ref> The principal prosecution witness was a servant of one of the accused who made claims that were easily rebutted by defense witnesses. They were all acquitted, and the servant was eventually convicted of perjury, whipped, and banished from the province.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 85.</ref>

==Legacy==

===Contribution to American Revolution===
{{See also|American Revolutionary War#Background and political developments}}
The Boston Massacre is considered one of the most significant events that turned colonial sentiment against King George III and British Parliamentary authority. John Adams wrote that the "foundation of American independence was laid" on March 5, 1770, and Samuel Adams and other Patriots used annual commemorations ([[Massacre Day]]) to encourage public sentiment toward independence.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', pp. 301–302.</ref> Christopher Monk was the boy who was wounded in the attack and died in 1780, and his memory was honored as a reminder of British hostility.<ref name=Miller395>Miller, ''Origins of the American Revolution'', p. 395.</ref>

Later events such as the [[Gaspee Affair]] and the [[Boston Tea Party]] further illustrated the crumbling relationship between Great Britain and its colonies. Five years passed between the massacre and outright war, and Neil York suggests that there is only a tenuous connection between the two.<ref>York, ''The Boston Massacre'', pp. 46–47.</ref> It is widely perceived as a significant event leading to the [[American Revolutionary War|violent rebellion]] that followed.<ref>Woods, ''Exploring American History'', p. 149.</ref><ref>Wheeler et al, ''Discovering the American Past'', pp. 101–102.</ref> [[Howard Zinn]] argues that Boston was full of "class anger". He reports that the ''Boston Gazette'' published in 1763 that "a few persons in power" were promoting political projects "for keeping the people poor in order to make them humble."<ref>{{Harvnb|Zinn|1980}}.</ref>

===Commemorations===
{{See also|Massacre Day|Freedom Trail}}
[[File:Boston Massacre Memorial - IMG 9560.JPG|thumb|The [[Boston Massacre Monument]], built by [[Adolph Robert Kraus]], on display in [[Boston Common]] since 1889]]
The massacre was remembered in 1858 in a celebration organized by [[William Cooper Nell]], a black abolitionist who saw the death of Crispus Attucks as an opportunity to demonstrate the role of [[African Americans in the Revolutionary War]].<ref name=Nell515>Nell et al, ''William Cooper Nell'', 515.</ref> Artwork was produced commemorating the massacre, changing the color of a victim's skin to black to emphasize Attucks' death.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fitz|first=Karsten|title=Commemorating Crispus Attucks: Visual Memory and the Representations of the Boston Massacre, 1770–1857|journal=American Studies|volume=50|issue=3|year=2005|jstor=41158169|pages=463–484}}</ref> In 1888, the [[Boston Massacre Monument]] was erected on the [[Boston Common]] in memory of the men killed in the massacre, and the five victims were reinterred in a prominent grave in the [[Granary Burying Ground]].<ref name=York46>York, ''The Boston Massacre'', p. 46.</ref>

The massacre is reenacted annually on March 5<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/visitor/boston-massacre.html |title=The Boston Massacre |publisher=The Freedom Trail Foundation |access-date=November 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125211125/http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/visitor/boston-massacre.html |archive-date=November 25, 2011 }}</ref> under the auspices of the [[Bostonian Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bostonhistory.org/?s=osh&p=reenactorreg|title=Massacre Reenactment Registration|publisher=Bostonian Society|access-date=November 21, 2011}}</ref><ref>Young, p. 20</ref> The Old State House, the massacre site, and the Granary Burying Ground are part of Boston's [[Freedom Trail]], connecting sites important in the city's history.<ref name=York46/>

==See also==

* [[List of massacres in the United States]]
*[[Timeline of the American Revolution|Timeline of United States revolutionary history (1760–1789)]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|title=A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston|url=https://archive.org/details/fairaccountoflat00unkn|page=[https://archive.org/details/fairaccountoflat00unkn/page/3 3]|publisher=B. White|year=1770|oclc=535966548|location=London}}  Original printing of a reply to "A Short Narrative…", supplying several depositions, including that of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, which were left out of the Narrative.
* {{cite book|title=A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=catbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP2|publisher=W. Bingley|location=London|year=1770|oclc=510892519}} Original printing of the report of a committee of the town of Boston.
* {{cite book|last=Adams|first=John|editor-last=Butterfield |editor-first=L.H. |title=Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 2|location=Cambridge, MA|publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|year=1962|oclc=19993300}}
* {{cite book|last=Allison|first=Robert J.|title=The Boston Massacre|publisher=Applewood Books|year=2006|location=Beverly, MA|isbn=978-1-933212-10-4|oclc=66392877}}
* {{Cite book|date=2013 |publisher= Casemate|title= 7 Leadership Lessons of the American Revolution: The Founding Fathers, Liberty, and the Struggle for Independence | last= Antal |first=John |isbn=9781612002033 |url={{Google books |55jUAgAAQBAJ |page=40 |plainurl=yes}} }}
* {{cite book|last=Archer|first=Richard|title=As if an Enemy's Country: the British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|location=Oxford, NY|isbn=978-0-19-538247-1|oclc=313664751|url=https://archive.org/details/asifenemyscountr00arch}}
* {{cite book|last=Bailyn|first=Bernard|author-link=Bernard Bailyn|title=The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson|location=Cambridge, MA|year=1974|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-64160-0|oclc=6825524|url=https://archive.org/details/ordealofthomashu00bern}}
* {{cite book|title=The Fate of a Nation: The American Revolution Through Contemporary Eyes|last1=Cumming|first1=William P.|last2=Rankin|first2=Hugh F.|year=1975|publisher=Phaidon Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7148-1644-9|oclc=1510269|url=https://archive.org/details/fateofnationamer0000cumm}}
* {{cite book|last1=Fischer|first1=David Hackett|author-link=David Hackett Fischer|year=1994|title=Paul Revere's Ride|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-508847-2|oclc=263430392|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195088472}}
* {{cite book|last=Knollenberg|first=Bernhard|title=Growth of the American Revolution, 1766–1775|location=New York|publisher=Free Press|year=1975|isbn=978-0-02-917110-3|oclc=1416300|url=https://archive.org/details/growthofamerican00knol}}
* {{cite book|last=Middlekauff|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Middlekauff|title=The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|location=New York and Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-516247-9|oclc=496757346}}
* {{cite book|last=Miller|first=John|title=Origins of the American Revolution|url=https://archive.org/details/originsofamerica0000mill|url-access=registration|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=1959|location=Stanford, CA|isbn=9780804705936|oclc=180556929}}
* {{cite book|last1=Nell|first1=William Cooper| author1-link = William Cooper Nell|last2=Wesley |first2=Dorothy Porter | author2-link = Dorothy B. Porter|last3=Uzelac |first3=Constance Porter |author3-link=Constance Porter Uzelac |title=William Cooper Nell, Nineteenth-Century African American Abolitionist, Historian, Integrationist: Selected Writings from 1832–1874|publisher=[[Black Classic Press]]|year=2002|location=Baltimore, MD|isbn=978-1-57478-019-2|oclc=50673509}}
* {{cite book|last=O'Connor|first=Thomas H|title=The Hub: Boston Past and Present|location=Boston|publisher=Northeastern University Press|year=2001|isbn=978-1-55553-474-5|oclc=248309644|url=https://archive.org/details/hubbostonpastpre00ocon}}
* {{cite book|last1=Ross|first1=Betsy McCaughey|last2=McCaughey |first2=Elizabeth P. |title=From Loyalist to Founding Father: the Political Odyssey of William Samuel Johnson|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1980|location=New York|isbn=978-0-231-04506-3|oclc=479827879}}
* {{cite book|last1= Triber|first1= Jayne|year= 1998|title= A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere|location= Amherst, MA|publisher= [[University of Massachusetts Press]]|isbn=978-1-55849-139-7|oclc=171052850}}
* {{cite journal|last=Walett|first=Francis|title=James Bowdoin, Patriot Propagandist|journal=The New England Quarterly|volume=23|issue=3|pages=320–338|date=September 1950|doi=10.2307/361420|jstor=361420}}
* {{cite book|last1=Wheeler|first1=William Bruce|last2=Becker |first2=Susan Becker |last3=Glover |first3=Lorri |title=Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence: To 1877|publisher=Cengage Learning|year=2011|location=Belmont, CA|isbn=978-0-495-79984-9|oclc=664324291}}
* {{cite book|last=Woods|first=Thomas|title=Exploring American History: From Colonial Times to 1877|publisher=Associated University Press|year=2008|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7614-7746-4|oclc=302384920}}
* {{cite journal|last1=York|first1=Neil Longley|title=Rival Truths, Political Accommodation, and the Boston 'Massacre'|journal=Massachusetts Historical Review|volume=11|jstor=40345980|year=2009|pages=57–95}}
* {{cite book|last=York|first=Neil Longley|title=The Boston Massacre: a History with Documents|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2010|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-87348-2|oclc=695944958}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Young|first1=Alfred|title=Revolution in Boston? Eight Propositions for Public History on the Freedom Trail|journal=[[The Public Historian]]|issue=2|date=Spring 2003|volume=25|pages=17–41|doi=10.1525/tph.2003.25.2.17|url=http://digilib.bc.edu/reserves/co626/morr/co62611.pdf}}
* {{cite book|last=Zinn|first=Howard| author-link =Howard Zinn|title=A People's History of the United States|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York|year=1980|isbn=978-0-06-019448-2|oclc=42420960|title-link=A People's History of the United States}}
* {{Cite book|last=Zobel|first=Hiller B|author-link=Hiller B. Zobel|title=The Boston Massacre|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=1970|isbn=978-0-393-31483-0|location=New York|oclc=243696768|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bostonmassacre00hill}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Boston's Massacre |first=Eric |last=Hinderaker |publisher=Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0674048331}}
* {{cite journal|last=Reid|first=John Phillip|title=A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre|journal=American Journal of Legal History|year=1974|volume=18|issue=3|pages=189–207|doi=10.2307/845085|jstor=845085|issn=0002-9319}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ritter|first=Kurt W|title=Confrontation as Moral Drama: the Boston Massacre in Rhetorical Perspective|journal=Southern Speech Communication Journal|year=1977|volume=42|issue=1|pages=114–136|doi=10.1080/10417947709372339|issn=0361-8269}}
* {{cite book |last1=Zabin |first1=Serena |title=The Boston Massacre: A Family History |date=2020 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston |isbn=9780544911154}}

==External links==
{{Commons category |Boston Massacre}}
{{Library resources box|onlinebooks=yes}}
* {{Wikisource-inline|list=
** {{Cite NIE |wstitle=Boston Massacre, The |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite Americana |wstitle=Boston Massacre |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite Collier's |wstitle=Boston Massacre |short=x |noicon=x}}
** [[s:An oration delivered April 2d, 1771|An oration delivered April 2d, 1771, at the request of the inhabitants of the town of Boston]] (1771) by [[James Lovell (Continental Congress)|James Lovell]]
}}
* [http://www.bostonmassacre.net The Boston Massacre Historical Society]
* [https://www.nps.gov/bost/index.htm Boston National Historical Park Official Website]
* [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/05-03-02-0001-0004-0016 Adams' Argument for the Defense] at the trial of the soldiers, at Founders Online website. (Retrieved 10 December 2017.)
* [http://www.masshist.org/revolution/massacre.php Massachusetts Historical Society Massacre Exhibit]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111012023020/http://www.bostonhistory.org/sub/bostonmassacre/ Boston Massacre investigative game] by the [[Bostonian Society]], stagers of the annual reenactment

{{American Revolutionary War}}
{{S-start}}
{{Succession box|
 before=[[Old State House (Boston)|Old State House]] |
 title=Locations along Boston's [[Freedom Trail]] |
 years= '''Site of the Boston Massacre''' |
 after= [[Faneuil Hall]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{John Adams|state=collapsed}}
{{Riots in the United States (1607–1865)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Boston Massacre| ]]
[[Category:1770 crimes in North America]]
[[Category:1770 in the Province of Massachusetts Bay]]
[[Category:1770 in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:1770s riots]]
[[Category:1770s in American politics]]
[[Category:18th century in Boston]]
[[Category:American Revolution]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1770]]
[[Category:Disasters in Boston]]
[[Category:Financial District, Boston]]
[[Category:Massacres committed by Great Britain]]
[[Category:1770 murders]]
[[Category:Massacres in the 1770s]]
[[Category:Massachusetts in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Massacres in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Death in Boston]]