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:''This article is about the [[Image:Boston Massacre.jpg|right|thumb|Engraving by Paul Revere]] |
:''This article is about the [[Image:Boston Massacre.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Engraving by Paul Revere that sold widely in the colonies]] |
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The '''Boston Massacre''' is the name commonly given to the |
The '''Boston Massacre''' is the name commonly given to the killing of five civilians by British troops on [[March 5]], [[1770]] and its legal aftermath, which became a ''[[cause celebre]]'' among pro-independence groups and helped to eventually spark the [[American Revolutionary War]]. Colonists were already resenting the [[Townshend Acts]]. Tensions caused by the heavy military presence in [[Boston]] led to brawls between soldiers and civilians, and eventually to troops shooting their muskets into a riotous crowd.<ref>http://www.bostonmassacre.net/plot/detailed1.htm</ref> |
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==Event== |
==Event== |
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The incident began on King Street when a young wigmaker's apprentice named Edward Garrick called out to a British officer, Captain John Goldfinch, that he was late paying his barber's bill. Goldfinch had in fact settled his account that day but did not reply to the boy. When Garrick remained quite vocal in his complaints an hour later, the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] sentry outside the customs house, Private Hugh White, called the boy over and clubbed him on the head. Garrick's companions yelled at the sentry, and a British sergeant chased them away.<ref>Zobel, |
The incident began on King Street when a young wigmaker's apprentice named Edward Garrick called out to a British officer, Captain John Goldfinch, that he was late paying his barber's bill. Goldfinch had in fact settled his account that day but did not reply to the boy. When Garrick remained quite vocal in his complaints an hour later, the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] sentry outside the customs house, Private Hugh White, called the boy over and clubbed him on the head. Garrick's companions yelled at the sentry, and a British sergeant chased them away.<ref>Zobel, (1970), 185-6.</ref> The apprentices returned with more locals, shouting insults at the sentry and throwing [[snowball]]s and litter. |
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[[Image:Boston massacre2.gif|thumb|This chromolithograph by John Bufford prominently features a |
[[Image:Boston massacre2.gif|thumb|This chromolithograph by John Bufford prominently features a black man believed to be Crispus Attucks.]] |
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White sent a messenger to the Main Guard for reinforcements. The |
White sent a messenger to the Main Guard for reinforcements. The Officer of the Day, [[Thomas Preston (Soldier)|Captain Thomas Preston]], dispatched a corporal and six privates, all [[grenadier]]s of the [[29th Regiment of Foot]], and followed soon after. The mob grew in size and continued throwing stones, sticks, and chunks of ice. A group of sailors and dockworkers came carrying large sticks of firewood and pushed to the front of the crowd, directly confronting the soldiers. As bells rang in the surrounding steeples, the crowd of Bostonians grew larger and more threatening. |
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In the midst of the commotion, Private Hugh Montgomery was struck down onto the ground by a |
In the midst of the commotion, Private Hugh Montgomery was struck down onto the ground by a piece of ice. He fired his musket into the air and—as he later admitted to one of his defense attorneys—yelled "Fire!" All but one of the other soldiers shot their weapons into the crowd. Their uneven bursts hit eleven men; three died instantly, one a few hours later, and a fifth several days later. Six wounded survived. Three Americans—ropemaker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and a [[multiracial]] sailor, [[Crispus Attucks]]—died instantly. Seventeen-year-old Samuel Maverick, struck by a ricocheting musket ball at the back of the crowd, died the next day. Thirty-year-old Irish immigrant [[Patrick Carr]] died two weeks later. Six more men were injured. To keep the peace, the next day royal authorities agreed to remove all troops from the center of town to a fort on Castle Island in Boston Harbor. |
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==Contemporary depictions== |
==Contemporary depictions== |
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[[Image:Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Current view of the Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts, the seat of British colonial government from 1713 to 1776. The Boston Massacre took place in front of the balcony and the original site is marked by a cobblestone circle in the square.]] |
[[Image:Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Current view of the Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts, the seat of British colonial government from 1713 to 1776. The Boston Massacre took place in front of the balcony and the original site is marked by a cobblestone circle in the square.]] |
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A young Bostonian artist, Henry Pelham, half-brother of the celebrated portrait painter John Singleton Copley, depicted the event. Boston silversmith and [[engraving|engraver]] [[Paul Revere]] closely copied Pelham's image, and thus often gets credit for it. Pelham and Revere added several inflammatory details, such as Captain Preston ordering his men to fire and another musket shooting out of the window of the customs office, labeled "Butcher's Hall." Another discrepancy arose because of how artist Christian Remick hand-colored some prints: the bright blue sky does not accord with the quarter |
A young Bostonian artist, Henry Pelham, half-brother of the celebrated portrait painter John Singleton Copley, depicted the event. Boston silversmith and [[engraving|engraver]] [[Paul Revere]] closely copied Pelham's image, and thus often gets credit for it. Pelham and Revere added several inflammatory details, such as Captain Preston ordering his men to fire and another musket shooting out of the window of the customs office, labeled "Butcher's Hall." Another discrepancy arose because of how artist Christian Remick hand-colored some prints: the bright blue sky does not accord with the quarter moon or dark shadows on the left side of the image.<ref>http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/massacre.html</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 victim as a person of color. |
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==Trial of the soldiers== |
==Trial of the soldiers== |
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[[Image:boston_massacre_grave_20040930_105414_1.627x1068.jpg|thumb|left|Boston Massacre grave marker]] |
[[Image:boston_massacre_grave_20040930_105414_1.627x1068.jpg|thumb|left|Boston Massacre grave marker]] |
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Captain Preston and the soldiers were arrested and scheduled for trial in a [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk County]] court. [[John Adams]], [[Josiah Quincy II]], and Robert Auchmuty acted as the defense [[attorney at law|attorneys]], with [[Sampson Salter Blowers]] helping by investigating the jury pool.<ref>http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/trial-summary2.htm</ref> [[Massachusetts]] Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney [[Robert Treat Paine]], hired by the town of Boston, handled the prosecution. |
Captain Preston and the soldiers were arrested and scheduled for trial in a [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk County]] court. [[John Adams]], [[Josiah Quincy II]], and Robert Auchmuty acted as the defense [[attorney at law|attorneys]], with [[Sampson Salter Blowers]] helping by investigating the jury pool.<ref>http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/trial-summary2.htm</ref> [[Massachusetts]] Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney [[Robert Treat Paine]], hired by the town of Boston, handled the prosecution. |
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The Boston Massacre threatened to alienate moderates from the Patriot cause so the Whigs took counter measures. They made certain that the British soldiers received a fair trial; Paul Revere helped to supply the evidence. A leading patriot [[John Adams]] was lawyer for the defense. To let passions settle, the trial was delayed for months, unusual in that period, and the [[jury|jurymen]] were all chosen from towns outside Boston. |
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Tried on his own, Preston was acquitted after the jury was not convinced that he had ordered the troops to fire. |
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| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | In the trial of the soldiers, Adams argued that if the soldiers were endangered by the mob they had the legal right to fight back, and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, they were at most guilty of manslaughter. The jury agreed with Adams and acquitted six of the soldiers. Two privates were found guilty of [[manslaughter]] and punished by branding on their thumbs. The jury's decisions suggest that they believed the soldiers had felt threatened by the crowd. Patrick Carr, the fifth victim, corroborated this with a [[dying declaration|deathbed testimony]] delivered to his doctor. |
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==Bibliography== |
==Bibliography== |
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* Reid, John Phillip. "A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre." ''American Journal of Legal History,'' 1974 18(3): 189-207. Issn: 0002-9319 Fulltext: in Jstor |
* Reid, John Phillip. "A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre." ''American Journal of Legal History,'' 1974 18(3): 189-207. Issn: 0002-9319 Fulltext: in Jstor |
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* Ritter, Kurt W. "Confrontation as Moral Drama: the Boston Massacre in Rhetorical Perspective." ''Southern Speech Communication Journal'' 1977 42(1): 114-136. Issn: 0361-8269 |
* Ritter, Kurt W. "Confrontation as Moral Drama: the Boston Massacre in Rhetorical Perspective." ''Southern Speech Communication Journal'' 1977 42(1): 114-136. Issn: 0361-8269 |
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* Hiller B. |
* Zobel, Hiller B., ''The Boston Massacre'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1970), |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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*[[American Revolution]] |
*[[American Revolution]] |
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Revision as of 00:19, 4 December 2006
- This article is about the
Engraving by Paul Revere that sold widely in the colonies
The Boston Massacre is the name commonly given to the killing of five civilians by British troops on March 5, 1770 and its legal aftermath, which became a cause celebre among pro-independence groups and helped to eventually spark the American Revolutionary War. Colonists were already resenting the Townshend Acts. Tensions caused by the heavy military presence in Boston led to brawls between soldiers and civilians, and eventually to troops shooting their muskets into a riotous crowd.[1]
Event
The incident began on King Street when a young wigmaker's apprentice named Edward Garrick called out to a British officer, Captain John Goldfinch, that he was late paying his barber's bill. Goldfinch had in fact settled his account that day but did not reply to the boy. When Garrick remained quite vocal in his complaints an hour later, the British sentry outside the customs house, Private Hugh White, called the boy over and clubbed him on the head. Garrick's companions yelled at the sentry, and a British sergeant chased them away.[2] The apprentices returned with more locals, shouting insults at the sentry and throwing snowballs and litter.
White sent a messenger to the Main Guard for reinforcements. The Officer of the Day, Captain Thomas Preston, dispatched a corporal and six privates, all grenadiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot, and followed soon after. The mob grew in size and continued throwing stones, sticks, and chunks of ice. A group of sailors and dockworkers came carrying large sticks of firewood and pushed to the front of the crowd, directly confronting the soldiers. As bells rang in the surrounding steeples, the crowd of Bostonians grew larger and more threatening.
In the midst of the commotion, Private Hugh Montgomery was struck down onto the ground by a piece of ice. He fired his musket into the air and—as he later admitted to one of his defense attorneys—yelled "Fire!" All but one of the other soldiers shot their weapons into the crowd. Their uneven bursts hit eleven men; three died instantly, one a few hours later, and a fifth several days later. Six wounded survived. Three Americans—ropemaker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and a multiracial sailor, Crispus Attucks—died instantly. Seventeen-year-old Samuel Maverick, struck by a ricocheting musket ball at the back of the crowd, died the next day. Thirty-year-old Irish immigrant Patrick Carr died two weeks later. Six more men were injured. To keep the peace, the next day royal authorities agreed to remove all troops from the center of town to a fort on Castle Island in Boston Harbor.
Contemporary depictions
A young Bostonian artist, Henry Pelham, half-brother of the celebrated portrait painter John Singleton Copley, depicted the event. Boston silversmith and engraver Paul Revere closely copied Pelham's image, and thus often gets credit for it. Pelham and Revere added several inflammatory details, such as Captain Preston ordering his men to fire and another musket shooting out of the window of the customs office, labeled "Butcher's Hall." Another discrepancy arose because of how artist Christian Remick hand-colored some prints: the bright blue sky does not accord with the quarter moon or dark shadows on the left side of the image.[3] Some copies of the print show a man with two chest wounds and a somewhat darker face, matching descriptions of Attucks; others show no victim as a person of color.
Trial of the soldiers
Captain Preston and the soldiers were arrested and scheduled for trial in a Suffolk County court. John Adams, Josiah Quincy II, and Robert Auchmuty acted as the defense attorneys, with Sampson Salter Blowers helping by investigating the jury pool.[4] Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney Robert Treat Paine, hired by the town of Boston, handled the prosecution. The Boston Massacre threatened to alienate moderates from the Patriot cause so the Whigs took counter measures. They made certain that the British soldiers received a fair trial; Paul Revere helped to supply the evidence. A leading patriot John Adams was lawyer for the defense. To let passions settle, the trial was delayed for months, unusual in that period, and the jurymen were all chosen from towns outside Boston.
Tried on his own, Preston was acquitted after the jury was not convinced that he had ordered the troops to fire.
In the trial of the soldiers, Adams argued that if the soldiers were endangered by the mob they had the legal right to fight back, and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, they were at most guilty of manslaughter. The jury agreed with Adams and acquitted six of the soldiers. Two privates were found guilty of manslaughter and punished by branding on their thumbs. The jury's decisions suggest that they believed the soldiers had felt threatened by the crowd. Patrick Carr, the fifth victim, corroborated this with a deathbed testimony delivered to his doctor.
Bibliography
- Reid, John Phillip. "A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre." American Journal of Legal History, 1974 18(3): 189-207. Issn: 0002-9319 Fulltext: in Jstor
- Ritter, Kurt W. "Confrontation as Moral Drama: the Boston Massacre in Rhetorical Perspective." Southern Speech Communication Journal 1977 42(1): 114-136. Issn: 0361-8269
- Zobel, Hiller B., The Boston Massacre (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1970),
See also
References
External links
- The Boston Massacre Historical Society
- An account of a late military massacre at Boston: a contemporary account from the Bostonian perspective, published a week after the event.
- Boston National Historical Park Official Website