Why Did The British Victory Boston Analysis

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

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

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.

In June,thousands of colonists besieged the British Army in Boston.(James Kirby 2)British forces marched up Breed’s Hill on the Charlestown peninsula near Boston.(Brown 1)The night of June 16,one of the American army called Peter Brown was serving as a clerk or orderly sergeant.(Brown 2)The colonists had secretly built defenses in Charlestown.(McGill 1)

Bunker Hill, while not officially a ‘win” for the patriots, served two purposes. With British casualties outnumbering Colonial loses nearly 3 to 1 (1,054 British to about 400 Colonial), and Congress’ call for all able bodied men to join the militia, the war was in full swing; but it was not the warfare that the British had expected (Shi).

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.

On 19 April 1775, the battle begun. The colony protected by local militiamen was vastly outnumbered, armed with only 77 men including “minutemen,” named for their ability to be ready to fight in a minute’s notice were

As the British advanced in columns against the Americans in an effort to save the Americans limited supply of ammunition, it is said he ordered his men, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” When the Redcoats were within several dozen yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, throwing the British into

On September 12, the Americans had observed the British fleet approaching in terror. Four thousand-five hundred British troops had landed and began an eleven-mile march to Baltimore. The British warships began moving towards Fort McHenry. The ships had opened a twenty-five-hour bombardment onto Fort McHenry. The attack had failed to force the Americans to surrender. The British fleet withdrew and the American’s raised their flag that flew during the bombardment.

With the killing of the five colonists, British regulars thought that the Culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1786 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshed Act.

According to the Americans, the British soldiers fired first at Lexington Green. John Bateman a British soldier said ”I never heard any of the inhabitants so much as fire one gun on said troops” (Document 3). Sylvanus Wood recollected that the British captain said “Lay down your arms, you damn’d rebels Or you are all dead men---fire” (Document 4). The colonist’s description was long and descriptive of what happened before and after nevertheless the fact that a British soldier said that the colonists’ did not fire turns the odds more towards the colonists’. Captain John Parker of the colonial Militia stated “...I immediately ordered my Militia to disperse and not fire”(Document 6). Thomas Fessenden a colonial onlooker recollects “...the second officer, who was two rods behind him, fired a pistol at said Militia, and the regulars kept huzzaing” (Document 1). These other two documents are testimonies that testify that the British fired

The Boston Massacre was an important event in U.S. history, that lead to the American

“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

The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen…you will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountains to ocean. Legions now quiet will swarm out and string us to death. It is unnecessary. It put us in the wrong. It is fatal. –Robert Toombs. (Boerner paragraph 2).

By 1775, the American colonies stretched from Canada to Florida and had a population of over two million people. Mainly farmers, the colonists worked the land and scratched out a living from whatever means they could find. By this time most colonists were third or fourth generation and had been creating their own industry and economy independent of British influence. The colonists built new homes, roads, and towns and enjoyed the bounty of plentiful space and resources the new world offered. During this time of expansion and growth however, an unwelcome concern lurked in the shadows.