1. The Boston Massacre
March 5, 1770

2. Boston, Massachusetts, Circa 1770

3. What we know happened.
A crowd (or mob) of Bostonians approached and began yell at a group of seven or eight British soldiers and their commanding officer, Captain Thomas Preston.

5. British soldiers of the time were nicknamed “Lobsterbacks”

6. What we know happened.
Preston and his men were coming to the aid of a lone British Sentry (guard) in front of the Custom’s House (Seaport Tax Office).

7. The Boston Custom’s House

8. What we know happened.
The crowd (or mob) surrounded the group of soldiers under Captain Preston’s command.
Captain Preston’s efforts to get the crowd (or mob) to calm down and disperse (go home) failed.

9. What we know happened.
The crowd (or mob) was calling the soldiers things far worse than “lobsterback”.
The crowd started throwing things.

10. What we know happened. A musket was fired at the crowd (or mob).
This first shot was immediately followed by more shots.

12. What we know happened. The crowd (or mob) quickly went home.
The soldiers and Captain Preston went back to their barracks (the buildings where groups of soldiers live).
Five Bostonians were dead or dying.

13. Grave of the five victims

14. What we know happened.
People were angry.

15. Questions Did the soldiers fire with provocation?
Did they fire on their own?
Was Captain Preston guilty of ordering his men to fire into a crowd of civilians?
Was Preston innocent and being used by men like Samuel Adams to confirm the oft-claimed tyranny of England?

16. Patriots claimed

17. A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston.
Printed by Order of the Town of Boston.
THE HORRID MASSACRE IN BOSTON, PERPETRATED IN THE EVENING OF THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH, 1770, BY SOLDIERS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT

19. Paul Revere engraved the event.

20. Paul Revere by John Singleton Copley

22. Source: www.americaslibrary.gov

24. This is a mid 1850s depiction of the attack.
Crispus Attucks
This is a mid 1850s depiction of the attack.

25. Why isn’t Crispus Attucks in the engraving?
Bias?
Racism?
Personal Animosity?
Lack of knowledge?
Another reason.

26. Questions Did the soldiers fire with provocation?
Did they fire on their own?
Was Captain Preston guilty of ordering his men to fire into a crowd of civilians?
Was Preston innocent and being used by men like Samuel Adams to confirm the oft-claimed tyranny of England?

27. What happened after the Boston Massacre?
The soldiers were put on trial.

28. March 13, 1770
A grand jury indicts Captain Preston and eight soldiers are indicted for murder in connection with the massacre.

30. Queen Street Courthouse

31. September 7, 1770
Preston and the soldiers are formally arraigned on charges of murder.  All plead "Not Guilty."

32. October 24-30, 1770
Captain Preston is tried.  A jury acquits Preston after the evidence fails to establish that he gave the order to fire.

33. A scene from the Trial

34. November 27, 1770
The trial of the eight soldiers begins.

35. December 5, 1770
Six of the soldiers are acquitted on all charges.  Two soldiers, Montgomery and Killroy are convicted of manslaugter. 

36. December 14, 1770
Montgomery and Killroy plead "the benefit of clergy" to reduce their punishment to branding.  Sheriff Greenleaf brands the two men on their right thumbs.

37. The Defense Attorney Speaks
“The part I took in the Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers was one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my Country”
“As the evidence was, the verdict of the jury was exactly right.”

38. John Adams, Patriot and our second President