Boston Massacre

Dr. Mary Draper, co-curator of the exhibition and associate
Professor of History at Midwestern State University

From the moment the smoke cleared, residents and redcoats disputed the details of the Boston Massacre. On that snowy night—March 5, 1770—a crowd gathered in front of the Custom House, where officials usually levied taxes on goods entering the town’s port. New taxes had angered the colonists in recent years, so soldiers now guarded the building. As they kept watch, the night turned deadly. The soldiers fired their muskets into the crowd, killing five and wounding six others.

Every detail of that night became the subject of vigorous debate. Had grown men purposefully taunted the soldiers? Or had innocent teenagers tossed poorly-aimed snowballs? Did the soldiers hope to exact revenge on the rebellious colonists? Or were they merely acting in self-defense? These questions—and many more—circulated throughout Boston and across the Atlantic Ocean.

While Paul Revere’s engraving hints at his answers to these questions, other accounts offered additional viewpoints. One pamphlet published by the town of Boston, just two weeks later, portrayed the night as a “Horrid Massacre.” London printers, meanwhile, dismissed it as an “Unhappy Disturbance.” These debates over the event’s meaning and memory continued for years as colonists reconsidered their place within the British empire.

A FAIR ACCOUNT OF THE LATE Unhappy Disturbance At BOSTON in NEW ENGLAND; EXTRACTED From the DEPOSITIONS that have been made Concerning it by PERSONS of all PARTIES. [Handwritten addition:] By Francis Maseres, Esqre:. WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING Some AFFIDAVITS and other EVIDENCES relating to this AFFAIR, not mentioned in the NARRATIVE of it that has been published at BOSTON. LONDON, Printed for B. WHITE, in Fleet-Street. M DCC LXX.

A Short NARRATIVE OF The horrid Massacre in BOSTON, PERPETRATED In the Evening of the Fifth Day of March, 1770, BY Soldiers of the XXIXth Regiment ; WHICH WITH the XIVth Regiment Were then Quartered there ; WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THINGS PRIOR TO THAT CATASTROPHE. Printed by Order of the Town of BOSTON, And Sold by EDES and GILL, in Queen-Street, And T. & J. FLEET, in Cornhill, 1770.

Image Credit:

Paul Revere, Bloody Massacre Perpetuated in King Street, Boston on March 5, 1770 (detail), 1770, Engraving; Gift of Minnie Rhea Wood, 1979.

A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston in New England, London, printed for B. White, 1770, Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society

A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston..., Boston: Edes and Gill, 1770, Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society