On March 5, 1770, British soldiers opened fire on a Boston crowd and killed five colonists. The event became one of the most powerful propaganda moments in American history. This episode covers the political tensions that led to the confrontation, the role of Crispus Attucks, and John Adams' decision to defend the accused soldiers in court. Students will see how the Boston Massacre transformed a street fight into a revolutionary cause.

Key Takeaways

• Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native American descent, was the first to fall in the Boston Massacre and became one of the earliest named martyrs of the American Revolution.

• John Adams agreed to defend the British soldiers because he believed every person deserved a fair trial, even those accused of killing colonists. Preston and six of the eight soldiers were acquitted.

• Paul Revere's engraving of the event depicted the soldiers firing in cold blood on peaceful citizens, an inaccurate portrayal that became one of the most effective pieces of political propaganda in American history.

• John Adams later called the Boston Massacre more important to American history than Bunker Hill, Saratoga, or Yorktown.

• The Boston Massacre grew directly out of the Townshend Acts of 1767, which had brought more British troops to Boston to enforce Parliament's authority after the Stamp Act crisis.

Sign up here to be the first to know about new History250 releases, content & resources!

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Who was Crispus Attucks and why is he remembered?

Crispus Attucks was a man of African and Native American descent who was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Little is known with certainty about his life before that night, though he is believed to have been a dockworker and possibly a formerly enslaved man. He became the first named martyr of the American Revolution, and his name was used as a rallying cry by abolitionists in the 19th century who pointed out the irony of a Black man dying for American freedom.

Q2: Why did John Adams defend the British soldiers if he opposed British policy?

Adams believed that the principle of a fair trial was more important than the politics of the moment. He later wrote that his decision to take the case was 'one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country,' because it demonstrated that the colonial legal system could function with integrity even under political pressure. Adams was also concerned that a show trial would damage the colonists' reputation as defenders of law and order.

Q3: What was the outcome of the Boston Massacre trial?

Captain Thomas Preston was tried separately and acquitted. Of the eight soldiers tried, six were also acquitted. Two soldiers who had fired into the crowd were convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter rather than murder. They were branded on the thumb as punishment and released. The acquittals were controversial but reflected Adams' effective argument that the soldiers had acted under provocation and genuine threat.

Q4: Was Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre accurate?

No. Revere's engraving, which he reproduced from a drawing by Henry Pelham, depicted the soldiers firing in an orderly volley at a calm and peaceful crowd, with a sign reading 'Butcher's Hall' visible above the Custom House. In reality, the confrontation was chaotic, the crowd had been throwing objects at the soldiers, and the circumstances of who gave the order to fire remain disputed. The engraving was a work of deliberate propaganda and was one of the most effective pieces of political art in the revolutionary era.

Q5: How did the Boston Massacre lead to the American Revolution?

The massacre didn't trigger the Revolution directly, but it served several key functions. It gave the patriot cause a clear emotional narrative of British tyranny. It created martyrs, particularly Crispus Attucks. And it demonstrated how the presence of British troops in colonial cities guaranteed conflict. After the massacre, colonial assemblies used it as evidence that standing armies and colonial liberty couldn't coexist. That argument became central to the revolutionary case against British rule.

British Troops in Boston and the Townshend Acts

The American colonists had successfully rebelled against Great Britain's Stamp Act of 1765, but the British had not relented. They continued to press their boot heel on the necks of the American colonists with increasing force. The British transferred many of their troops from the western territories and relocated them to the coastal cities. The British government expected the colonists to pay for these soldiers and their housing. In 1765, they had issued the Quartering Act requiring colonial legislatures to fund barracks for British regulars. A year later, New York's assembly declared its refusal to comply. In 1767, the British passed the New York Restraining Act, forbidding their colonial assembly from passing any new legislation until it complied with the Quartering Act. Then came the Townshend Acts of 1767, named for Charles Townshend, the British exchequer. They were a series of external taxes on goods imported by the colonists: glass, paint, paper, and tea. By 1768, angry Americans in colonial port cities had organized boycotts against imports sold and taxed by the British. In February of that same year, the Massachusetts House of Representatives sent a circular letter to the other colonial assemblies declaring that the taxes levied under the Townshend Acts were a violation of the principle no taxation without representation.

Lord Hillsborough demanded a retraction of the letter. When the legislators refused, the British struck back. On June 10th, 1768, John Hancock's merchant ship, Liberty, was seized. In July, Governor Francis Bernard dissolved the Massachusetts Colonial Assembly. By 1769, there were 4,000 British troops in a city with a population of just under 16,000. Tensions had already been rising for years, set in motion by the events we cover in our episode on the Stamp Act crisis.

The Night of March 5th, 1770

It was a cold Monday evening. The ground was blanketed with snow. A British regular, Hugh White, took up his position as sentry in front of the customs house on King Street, what later came to be known as State Street. Edward Garrick, a wigmaker's apprentice, and Hugh White exchanged insults. White struck Garrick in the head with the butt of his musket.

An angry crowd gathered. They continued to hurl insults at Private White. Outnumbered and surrounded, he called for support. Captain Thomas Preston and six other regulars emerged from the customs house. The yelling and taunting grew. The crowd fired hardpacked snowballs, ice, and sticks at the regulars. One object hit Private Hugh Montgomery. Montgomery fell to the ground. He quickly rose, raised his musket, and fired into the crowd. Crispus Attucks, an American of African, Native, and European lineage, fell to the ground. The other soldiers fired their guns. Within seconds, 10 more colonists were shot. Three died at the scene. Two more would die after days of suffering. Three years later Boston's defiance would explode again in the events covered in our episode on the Boston Tea Party.

Paul Revere's Engraving and a Controversial Trial

At first, the crowd mostly fled the gunfire. Some reassembled, angrier than ever. Governor Hutchinson arrived on the scene and reassured them that justice would be done. He had Captain Preston and the other redcoats arrested. On March 8th, Samuel Adams led a funeral procession to the Granary Burying Ground. Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks were all laid to rest in the same plot. Patrick Carr was interred there seven days later.

Three weeks after the events at King Street, Paul Revere issued an engraving that stoked the fires of rebellion. The trials did not begin until October 24th, more than seven months after the massacre. Even then, given the heated environment of Boston at the time, it would likely have been impossible for the soldiers to get a fair trial, but for the intervention of Boston lawyer John Adams, who took on their case. In doing so, Adams risked losing his reputation in the colonies. "Persons whose lives were at stake ought to have the counsel they preferred. Every lawyer must hold himself responsible not only to his country but to the highest and most infallible of all tribunals for the part he should act."

Justice Delivered, Tensions Unresolved

Six of the men were acquitted, including Captain Preston. It was established that he never gave the order to fire. Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy were found guilty of manslaughter. As first-time offenders, their sentences were commuted and their right thumbs branded.

As promised by the British-appointed governor, justice had been delivered. But the tensions in America remained as hot as the branding iron used for punishment. Years after the American Revolution, John Adams claimed that not the Battle of Lexington or Bunker Hill, not the surrender of Burgoyne or Cornwallis, were more important events in American history than the Battle of King Street on the 5th of March 1770. On King Street in Boston, American blood had been spilled by British regulars. There would be no turning back. What followed next was the Boston Tea Party and then the Intolerable Acts. Britain's response to Boston's continuing resistance is the subject of our episode on the Intolerable Acts and First Continental Congress.