![]() Eyewitnesses presented contradictory evidence on whether Preston had ordered his men to fire on the colonists.īut after witness Richard Palmes testified that, “…After the Gun went off I heard the word ‘fire!’ The Captain and I stood in front about half between the breech and muzzle of the Guns. Certain that impartial jurors were nonexistent in Boston, Adams convinced the judge to seat a jury of non-Bostonians.ĭuring Preston’s trial, Adams argued that confusion that night was rampant. After all, the death penalty was at stake and the colonists didn’t want the British to have an excuse to even the score. Ironically, it was American colonist, lawyer and future President of the United States John Adams who defended them.Īdams was no fan of the British but wanted Preston and his men to receive a fair trial. It took seven months to arraign Preston and the other soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and bring them to trial. Sailor James Caldwell was hit twice before dying, and Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally wounded. Among the other casualties of the Boston Massacre was Samuel Gray, a rope maker who was left with a hole the size of a fist in his head. Once the first shot rang out, other soldiers opened fire, killing five colonists–including Crispus Attucks, a local dockworker of mixed racial heritage–and wounding six. Reports differ of exactly what happened next, but after someone supposedly said the word “fire,” a soldier fired his gun, although it’s unclear if the discharge was intentional. The violence escalated, and the colonists struck the soldiers with clubs and sticks. Preston later reported a colonist told him the protestors planned to “carry off from his post and probably murder him.” Worried that bloodshed was inevitable, some colonists reportedly pleaded with the soldiers to hold their fire as others dared them to shoot. ![]() In response to White’s plea and fearing mass riots and the loss of the King’s money, Captain Thomas Preston arrived on the scene with several soldiers and took up a defensive position in front of the Custom House. As the assault on White continued, he eventually fell and called for reinforcements. Bells started ringing throughout the town-usually a warning of fire-sending a mass of male colonists into the streets. In retaliation, the colonists pelted him with snowballs, ice and stones. It wasn’t long before angry colonists joined him and insulted him and threatened violence.Īt some point, White fought back and struck a colonist with his bayonet. On the frigid, snowy evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was the only soldier guarding the King’s money stored inside the Custom House on King Street. Violence Erupts between Colonists and Soldiers It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come. Several days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. ![]() His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. On February 22, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalist’s store. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers. Skirmishes between colonists and soldiers-and between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists)-were increasingly common. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain’s tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, “no taxation without representation.” Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770.
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