Boston Freedom Trail

10. Boston Massacre

Boston, MA

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Does the “Incident on King Street” ring a bell? It’s the more cryptic name for the Boston Massacre, often used centuries ago in hushed tones when referring to the event publicly. The area does not boast a monument of what happened here in 1770, but the solemn ring of cobblestones that lay in a circle on the street. The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It was the spark that ignited the powder keg of tensions in Boston that had been growing since British troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burdens imposed by the Townshend Acts. Since their arrival, there was continuous animosity and antagonism between the troops and Boston citizens. The civilians reacted to the redcoats like they were invaders by taunting them through name calling, spitting, and fighting. On February 20, Bostonian Christopher Seider was shot and killed in a fight between the mob and British loyalists that began when the mob started throwing rocks at the store of a loyalist merchant. About two weeks later, on March 5, 1770, a young wigmakers apprentice named Edward Garrick called out to a British officer, Captail-Lieutenant John Goldfinch, that he had not paid his bill. Goldfinch had in fact paid the bill, and so ignored the insult. Private Hugh White, who was on duty that night, told Garrick that he should be more respectful of the officer. The two began insulting one another, and White left his post, challenged Garrick, and struck him in the head with his musket. As Garrick was crying in pain, his friend began yelling at White, which attracted a larger crowd. Henry Knox, a 19 year old bookseller, came to the scene and shouted, “If he fired he must die for it!” As the evening drew on, the crowd grew larger and larger. Nearly 50 Bostonians descended upon Private White, hurling insults, throwing objects, and challenging him to shoot at them. Private White requested assistance, and Captain Preston, watch commander, arrived from a nearby barracks with seven others. At this time, the crowd was estimated to be between 300 and 400. Captain Preston was unable to disperse the crowd. As the crowd chanted "Fire and be damned", and continued the spit and throw objects at them, Preston shouted at his troops "Don't Fire!" However, given the commotion, the soldiers either did not hear his order or ignored them, as they opened fire on the crowd, killing three men instantly and mortally wounding two more. It is believed that Private Montgomery fired the first shot after he was struck by an object thrown from the crowd, which forced him to drop his musket. The killings on March 5, promptly termed a “massacre” by Patriot leaders and commemorated in a widely circulated engraving by Paul Revere, aroused intense public protests and threats of violent retaliation. This pressure caused Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson to withdraw the troops to an island in the harbor. There were two trials for the soldiers involved in the massacre. Of the 12 soldiers originally arrested, only 8 and Captain Preston stood trial. The first trial was held seven months later, to let emotions settle before holding trial, in October 1770. Captain Preston was tried for murder in a Boston courtroom and was defended by independence radicals John Adams and Robert Auchmuty. The jurors decided that Preston could not have given the order to fire, as he was standing in front of the guns, between his men and the crowd of protesters. The Captain was acquitted by a Boston jury. When the eight soldiers were tried after Preston, they were also defended by Adams and Quincy. The jurors in this trial were from outside of Boston, and this trial lasted one month. Six were acquitted for self-defense, while two privates were found guilty of murder due to the overwhelming proof that they had fired into the crowd against Preston’s orders. The defense employed by Adams and Auchmuty was called the ‘benefit of the clergy’, which reduced the changes from murder to manslaughter by showing that the accused were simply literate enough to read from the Bible. Under British law, the two soldiers were unable to speak as witnesses on their own behalf because they had an interest in the case. The two soldiers were punished by branding ‘M’ on their thumbs, which also prevented the soldiers from using this defense in the future. http://www.bostonmassacre.net/