Napoleon Persuasive Speech

The British soldiers were anything but loved by the American colonists in the 1770s. They maliciously planned an attack on the soldiers because of their hate. Many townspeople gathered together in effort to strike against the British presence. The men were just doing their job trying to keep order in Boston, but the people still taunted them. The soldiers were being tried for murder because they fired at the people, but those charges should not have existed. The crowd initially attacked the soldiers, not the other way around. It was also dark out so the soldiers did not know of the number of colonist attackers. The soldiers heard the word fire coming from the crowd, confusing the voices with Captain Preston’s. The incident referred to as the

"I heard the word fire and took it and am certain that it came from behind the Soldiers. I saw a man passing busily behind who I took to be an Officer. The firing was a little time after. I saw some persons fall. Before the firing I saw a stick thrown at the Soldiers. The word fire I took to be a word of Command. I had in my hand a highland broad Sword which I brought from home. Upon my coming out I was told it was a wrangle between the Soldiers and people, upon that I went back and got my Sword,” said Benjamin Burdick. This account shows the confusion that was ever-present during the Boston massacre. It also shows that the colonists and the soldiers may have been equally violent during the Boston Massacre.

To begin, while the colonists were attacking the soldiers, there was a profuse amount miscommunication. According to Benjamin Burdick, he heard the captain order to the soldiers “not to fire”. However, the crowd was harassing the soldiers, screaming “fire if you dare”. During all the chaos, it was hard for the soldiers to depict who was saying what. Most likely a

The soldiers lined up, facing the crowd to try and dissolve the problem but the people were not backing down. Bostonians continued to taut the soldiers, yelling at them to fire their weapons. Not long after, shots were fired killing five Bostonians and wounding six others. The big question still unanswered today is whether or not Captain Preston yelled for the soldiers to fire or not.

British soldiers patrolled the area. People say the soldiers pounced first, but others beg to differ. This story told as from Revere reveals the dark side of the soldiers. It was MArch, 1770 and another protest had formed this time harassing the soldiers. Then a fire was shot and as from an engraving this was now the “Bloody Massacre.”

My first rebuttal source is Simon Winships official deposition 6 days after the event. He claims that the british fired first when he says “The troops marched on till they came within a few rods of captain parkers company, who were partly collected on the place of the parade, when said winship observed an officer at the head of said troops flourishing his sword, and with a loud voice giving the word fire.” So what happened was he was on the front line when he claims to have seen the british fire first.But this is not a reliable source for the reason of it is 6 days after the event they may forget some stuff as if it was on the day of the event as both of my sources. Also then is it more reliable if a colonist say it was a colonist or a british claiming it was the colonist.

The British did indeed fire first but fell back when more and more militiamen showed up. By the time British soldiers were prepared to return back to Boston, almost 2000 militiamen arrived and more were arriving. Fighting had started yet again with militiamen hiding behind bushes in trees. British soldiers pulled back to Lexington where they had came into contact with more reinforcements of Redcoats. This didn’t stop the Patriots from continuing to resume attacks. The British tried and tried with Redcoats flanking and canon fire. The Patriots had a chance to finish the Redcoats off but were commanded not to. The British Redcoats retreated to Charlestown Neck. The Americans had won the battle, neither Samuel Adams or John Hancock had been taken and they only destroyed very little military supplies! By the end of the day Britain lost 293 soldier and the colonials 93. The colonial Patriots proved they were more than a group of unorganized colonial rebels.

Washington fires the first shot with a mortar hitting a house with British soldiers eating starting the siege. Cornwallis had to rely on his ten forts called redoubts to defend Yorktown. General Washington knew he had to take out redoubts nine and ten in order to get close enough to attack Cornwallis. On one moonless night with Jupiter and Venus glowing brightly 400 French soldiers attacked redoubt nine while 400 (with one soldier thinking it was the signal to attack) American soldiers attacked redoubt ten. In an attempt to turn the tide Cornwallis sent the British army to attack the nearest allied troops in an attempt to spike (to take a spike usually made of iron pounded into the hole where the fuse in the cannon goes requiring the army to have to drill it out damaging the weapon) or fill the cannons with dirt rendering them useless until the cannons can be cleaned. The attack was doomed form the start, and the British were pushed back after a brief battle, and the allied army shortly repaired the cannons and put them back into the fight. After a few days of fighting the Cornwallis ran away to hide in Yorktown’s cave. Not really inspiring for the British army to have their general run and hide in a cave for that is very embarrassing for a

Once the Redcoats were set up to the best of their ability, the militiamen continued to move forward. As the militiamen closed in the British fired the first volley, Private Abner Hosmer and Captain Isaac Davis were at the head of the march and were killed instantly. That volley was the start of the Revolutionary War and is now known as the “Shot Heard around the World”. The militiamen

As Donald N. Moran notes, the British light infantry was told, "On no account to fire, nor even attempt it without orders," by second-in-command Major John Pitcairn as he and his men marched to Lexington that morning. That is, at least, the report of Colonel Smith which was given to General Gage. General Gage himself seemed to have little interest in stirring the hornet's nest that was right outside his door. As military governor of Massachusetts,

Lieutenant John Barker, a young British officer, writes in his diary ”...but on our coming near them they fired one or two shots upon which our men without any orders, rushed in upon them, fired and put ‘em to flight” (Document 2). People who have a diary generally do not share them with their friends or family and they keep it to themselves, so this seems like his diary is an actual log of what happened. The official report of Major John Pitcairn commander of the British soldiers at Lexington Green said ”...rebels who had jumped the wall, fired four to five shott at the soldiers” (Document 7). The level of detail in the captain’s report makes it seem more realistic in that the colonists’ rushed and shot the soldiers, consequently it also seems like he had time to think of something to counteract if his men did shoot first. The British had a detailed argument that makes it difficult to decide, making ponder between which side to

The Battle of Lexington was the beginning of the Revolutionary War and where the colonists first stood up for their rights. According to the accounts the first shots were most likely fired by the British soldiers. As document A was written by a soldier who claimed he thought the “first one or two” shots came from the minutemen. It was also stated that after those alleged shots the British militia (in a state of panic) began to shoot back wildly without being ordered too. Which seems unlikely as the soldiers had been trained and should have been prepared to handle the situation calmly. Document B had thirty-two recorded account days after the battle, with men under oath, that stated “to their knowledge they did not shoot until they were fired

Who was the first one to fire in the Battle of Lexington? The Battle of Lexington was fought between the British and the thirteen Colonies. The day before the British and Colonist were already arguing over taxes. There are so many different sides to this story. This battle led up to the Revolutionary War. When the British and Colonist got together, the British stated, “Put down all your weapons, you damned rebels, or we will kill you all.” After that the Colonists’ captain ordered every man to take care of himself. Now I will tell you how I think the British shot first.

The Next Morning, the Americans were pointing cannons and guns at the British on top of the hill. General William Howe, the leader of the British troops, chose to

While the British were in the streets of Boston the colonists decided to protest the king. The colonists were protesting that the taxes that the kind had on the people were unfair. The colonists started with using verbal abuse, but eventually they started throwing things and beating the soldiers. The colonists were saying things like “Fire you bloody lobsters” and throwing things such as snowballs, pebbles, rocks, sticks basically anything they could find. Since the colonists were threatening the British they had a reason to fire. A report made shows that one colonist was physically beating one of the British guards. This colonist had no charges filed against him, but the British soldier was the one who fired the first shot. The British was put in jail for using self defense against the