Site of the Boston Massacre

The Massacre grew out of the anger against the British troops sent to Boston to maintain order and to enforce the Townshend Acts of 1767. The troops were constantly tormented by gangs.  

Clashes between civilians and soldiers in Boston, feeding tensions with its sometimes exaggerated accounts, but those tensions rose markedly after Christopher Seider, "a young lad about eleven Years of Age", was killed by a customs employee on February 22, 1770. Seider's death was covered in the Boston Gazette, and his funeral was described as one of the largest of the time in Boston. The killing and subsequent media coverage inflamed tensions, with groups of colonists looking for soldiers to harass, and soldiers also looking for confrontation.

It began when a rioting crowd gathered near the Boston Custom House, confronted British Private Hugh White. After tensions escalated, Captain Thomas Preston and a small detachment arrived to assist White. The soldiers were harassed by a crowd throwing objects and taunting them to fire. Private Hugh Montgomery fired after being hit, triggering others to shoot into the crowd. Five colonists were killed, three on the spot,with two dying later of their wounds, including Crispus Attucks, and several others were wounded. This event became a significant catalyst in the lead-up to the American Revolution.

The British captain, Thomas Preston, and his men were tried for murder, with Robert Treat Paine as prosecutor, John Adams and Josiah Quincy as lawyers for the defense. Preston and six of his men were acquitted; two others were found guilty of manslaughter, punished, and discharged from the army.