The Boston Massacre In The Incident On King Street

William Wyatt and Captain Thomas Preston had very different accounts on what happened at the Boston Massacre. Wyatt said that he was in Boston, when he heard the bells ring, which usually indicated that there is a fire. He ran up too the Town-house, where he saw soldiers and their officer, who was telling them to load their guns and then proceeded to tell the soldiers to fire. When they did not fire, he told them to fire again, until someone did and after everyone fired and killed townspeople, the officer yelled "Damn ye, rascals, what did ye fire for?" Wyatt also mentioned that the towns people did not throw anything at the soldiers.

The third and most obvious reason the British are to blame for the massacre is that the British soldiers fired into the crowd. When Hugh Montgomery was knocked down by a chunk of ice, he stood up and fired into the crowd (Aron 24). The other soldiers soon fired as well. The gunfire killed five people. Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, and James Caldwell died at the scene. Samuel Maverick died a few hours later, while Patrick Carr survived for nine days before dying of his wounds (Olson). Samuel Gray was killed by a single ball entering his head, Crispus Attucks was killed by two balls entering his chest, and James Caldwell was killed by two balls entering his back (“Boston”). Benjamin Frizell, who was standing near the west corner of the Custom House before and at the time of the gun discharges, declared that the first discharge was of only one gun, the second discharge was of two guns, the third discharge was of three guns, immediately followed by the fourth and final discharge of five guns (“Boston”). He also declared that of the final discharge, two were from soldiers on the ground on Preston’s right side, but three discharges came from the balcony, or the chamber window, as the flashes appeared on the left side of Preston, and higher than the flashes of the other two discharges. This information shows that at least three soldiers were on the balcony and carefully took aim and

After the French and Indian War, tension was increasing in the English Colonies due to over taxation laws. In March of 1770, hatred between the colonists and the British soldiers erupted into fighting in an event known as the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre was a significant event in the American Independence movement. The source of the conflict with the British troops and the Bostonians was the Townshend Act in 1767, three years prior to the massacre. The primary sources in this collection of documents are of different accounts of the massacre: a pamphlet of the testimony of William Wyatt, an article from the Boston Gazette and Country Journal, a sketch by Paul Revere, an account of Captain Thomas Preston, and a court case from John Adams. These documents expose the turmoil of that day from different perspectives of Bostonians and British soldiers. They also show how some colonial leaders used this event to advance the patriot cause. The account of Captain Thomas Preston said that he tried to

Similar to the way that the colonial and British perspectives greatly varied for the Boston Massacre, their opinions are once again vastly different for the Battles of Lexington and Concord. In this event as well, both parties attempt to place the blame on the other which is not unusual due the nature of the sources. However, this highlights the large amount of bias evident in all of the accounts. For the colonial perspective, there are two statements, each from a member of a colonial militia that fought during the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Both of these sources place the blame on the British soldiers and claim that the British fired first, killing several colonists. One account, from the Battle of North Bridge, claims that the colonists were ordered to hold their fire and that they didn’t fire until the British opened fire upon them. The other account, from soldier who fought during the skirmish at the Lexington Green, states that the colonists did not even get a single shot off, at least not before the soldier whose account this is was wounded. This source also claims that the British commanding officers were yelling at and insulting the colonists as their ranks closed on the milita. Both these sources are very similar to the colonial perspectives of the Boston Massacre because they all place the blame on the British soldiers and attempt to make themselves appear as the victims.

Before the Boston Massacre even occurred, tensions were high in the city of Boston between the Bostonians and the British. At this time people were just

To deeply understand that what is Boston Massacre is all about, it is necessary to critically analyze the causes and effects of the incident of Boston Massacre. Boston Massacre is considered as one of the decisive incidents in the history of America. The act of Boston Massacre happened on March 5, 1770. This incident was known as the act of massacre because it causes the brutal killing of five American men due to the fight between British soldiers and the American

The Boston Massacre as history shows us was the explosion in history that led American’s and the British into the American Revolution. However, the events that lead to the happening of the Boston Massacre, put the British soldiers at a disadvantage that day. However, the British Army had occupied the city, but they were just following the orders given to them by the British Parliament. They did not grasp the pressure that the colonist was being put under and if they did, they did not fully understand the consequences or it never crossed their minds.

Revolution. This event brought attention to the unfair ways the British soldiers were treating the colonists. The British were treating the colonists unfairly by taxing them and using their homes for shelter and food. They used them for food by making them make meals for them to eat and if the colonist was a farmer with horses they would also take the horses. I will talk about the famous lawyer John Adams and other events that happened in the Boston Massacre.

The Boston Massacre is one of the most controversial events in American history that occurred in Boston before the American Revolution. Certainly, it has a fundamental role in the development of America as a nation, which led it to have a huge motivation for revolution. A heavy British military presence and having very high taxes in the country were some of the main reasons that made Boston citizens very irritated. Thus, there were already many disagreements and tensions between inhabitants and the British that could have led to the Massacre. In this essay, I will carefully analyze three primary sources, and compare these to the interpretation given by HBO’s John Adams. In my view, these sources can be

“Between the hours of nine and ten o’clock, being in my master’s house, was alarmed by the cry of fire, I ran down as far as the town-house, and then heard that the soldiers and the inhabitants were fighting in the alley… I then left them and went to King street. I then saw a party of soldiers loading their muskets about the Custom house door, after which they all shouldered. I heard some of the inhabitants cry out, “heave no snow balls”, others cried “they dare not fire”. The Boston massacre has been no massacre it was propaganda. The incident that happened March 5th, 1770 in the streets of Boston only killed five people and had six people with non fatal injuries. There were

From the end of salutary neglect to the start of the American Revolution, the British and the North American colonies’ relationship began deteriorating. Salutary neglect allowed the colonies to prosper but created a deficit for the British Empire. When the English could not sustain the losses from the colonies anymore, they attempted to reinforce their previous acts with more legislation. These created tension between the colonies and the mother country that was catalyzed by other acts such as the Stamp Act and events such as the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

Next off, the boston massacre was one of the biggest factors leading up to the American revolution. How the boston massacre happened was that soldiers were sent to boston to keep peace but the constant presence of the soldiers always being there irritated the colonists very much. And to top it off the soldiers were harassing women and children. The actual shooting at the boston massacre happened because a soldier thought they heard “fire” which made them shoot. Because of that, other soldiers shoot as

During the Boston Massacre, the soldiers fired on protesters without the instruction to do so from Captain Preston displayed by the fact that he was stupefied by the act of his soldiers, aggravated at these soldiers, and the only “orders of fire” came from the protesters. These observations were taken from the interviews of James Woodall, Newton Prince, and John Cole. According to James Woodall, Captain Preston was surprised by his men. It says directly from his interview that “The Captain, after, seemed shocked and looked upon the Soldiers. I am very certain he did not give the word of fire.” According to John Cole, Captain Preston was angry at the soldiers who fired. In his interview he explicitly says “The Captain came up and stamped and

A revolution is the overthrow of a government or society. The revolutionary war was when the United States of America threw over the British government in favor of governing themselves. But it didn’t happen overnight. After being pushed so far by the English, the colonists had had enough. The breaking point that determined war is debatable. But for me, I think it began with the Boston Massacre.

With revolution on the rise and independence in colonist minds, it starts to be clear that the definition of American is becoming more evident in British minds. With the first few acts such as the Stamp Acts, Quartering Acts, Tea Act, and etc., the British had placed on the colonists, the sense of patriotism becomes more common in all Americans. But the event of the Boston Massacre, which had troops of British soldiers fire upon a crowd of colonists, boosted the idea of freedom and furthered the hate of Britain by the colonists. This occurrence, although tragic, did help the colonists unite together and aided the revolution. It is unclear which side, colonists or the British, stimulated it into happening. However, I believe that the Americans are the ones to blame for this tragic event. The whole occurrence had the British holding the guns and shooting at the colonists but I feel that the colonists stimulated this affair. In different accounts of the massacre, it is stated that the colonists taunted the redcoats. Additionally, this protest was the result of the mercantilistic acts British imposed.