Featured image: The Boston Massacre March 5, 1770 by Don Troiani
A lone sentry stood guard (Private Hugh White) in front of the Boston Custom House. The chill wind on the evening of March 5, 1770 caused the young sentry to pull his coat tighter about his body. He heard a group of young colonials coming towards his position and tried to look the part of a British soldier as they approached.
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The pivotal event called “The Boston Massacre” was about to occur.
There had been several minor scuffles between the occupying soldiers and the citizens of Boston, and all he could think of was his supper that awaited him at the end of his sentry duty. The group of young locals began to taunt the young sentry and throw snowballs at his position. As they approached even closer one tried to pull the musket from his hands. As the situation escalated, the young sentry called for reinforcements to come to his aid.
As the altercation became more intense he called out, “Turn out the Guard! Turn out the Guard.” To his relief, he saw an officer (Captain Thomas Preston) with the troops that answered his call for help. The officer ordered Private White to join the formation of troops that arrived. The situation continued to escalate as more of the town ruffians joined the crowd that were harassing the soldiers.
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A church bell began to ring, the signal that a fire had broken out in the town. The call of “Fire, Fire” began to be called among the gathering crowd and the altercation continued to garner more attention. As the calls of “Fire” continued to be yelled towards the soldiers, all at once, one of the soldiers, unable to control his fear, fired, followed by more of the soldiers firing into the crowd of gathering local townsmen.
Five Boston citizens lay dead in the snow, six more were wounded. The dismay of Captain Preston as he led the small contingent of soldiers away from the awful reality did nothing to calm the citizens, only the bitter cold kept the situation from being more disastrous than it already was.
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In the days following the dreadful event, Captain Preston and several of the soldiers were arrested. Claims and counterclaims between the citizens of Boston and the soldiers flowed back and forth.
The prominent young Boston attorneys, John Adams and John Quincy undertook the task of defending Captain Preston and the soldiers. Captain Preston would be acquitted and of the soldiers, two would be found guilty of manslaughter.
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The acquitted Captain Preston returned to England, the two soldiers who were convicted claimed a plea of clergy that exempted them from further punishment.* A shaky calm came over the city in the aftermath of the trial.
John Adams’ cousin, Sam Adams called for a more stringent punishment for the two soldiers, but was rebuffed by Lieutenant Governor Hutchison. Sam Adams’ demand that all troops be removed from Boston was effective in that the troops were sent to Castle William Island in Boston Harbor but later would return to Boston under the Command of General Thomas Gage.
*Editors note: The claim of Clergy meant the person could read and write and was a holdover in English law from the Middle Ages when most people outside the Clergy could read or write. This editor highly doubts that either Hugh Montgomery or Matthew Kilroy were literate. The claim exempted them from being hung. They were both branded with the letter ‘M’ on the base of their right thumbs. Branding was a common punishment of the era.