essay topics for the boston massacre

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Boston Massacre

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 24, 2024 | Original: October 27, 2009

The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston. It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment and paved the way for the American Revolution.

Why Did the Boston Massacre Happen?

Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain’s tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts . American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, “no taxation without representation.”

Skirmishes between colonists and soldiers—and between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists)—were increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers.

On February 22, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalist’s store. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots.

Several days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come.

How Many Died After Violence Erupted?

On the frigid, snowy evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was the only soldier guarding the King’s money stored inside the Custom House on King Street. It wasn’t long before angry colonists joined him and insulted him and threatened violence.

At some point, White fought back and struck a colonist with his bayonet. In retaliation, the colonists pelted him with snowballs, ice and stones. Bells started ringing throughout the town—usually a warning of fire—sending a mass of male colonists into the streets. As the assault on White continued, he eventually fell and called for reinforcements.

In response to White’s plea and fearing mass riots and the loss of the King’s money, Captain Thomas Preston arrived on the scene with several soldiers and took up a defensive position in front of the Custom House.

Worried that bloodshed was inevitable, some colonists reportedly pleaded with the soldiers to hold their fire as others dared them to shoot. Preston later reported a colonist told him the protestors planned to “carry off [White] from his post and probably murder him.”

The violence escalated, and the colonists struck the soldiers with clubs and sticks. Reports differ of exactly what happened next, but after someone supposedly said the word “fire,” a soldier fired his gun, although it’s unclear if the discharge was intentional.

Once the first shot rang out, other soldiers opened fire, killing five colonists–including Crispus Attucks , a local dockworker of mixed racial heritage–and wounding six. Among the other casualties of the Boston Massacre was Samuel Gray, a rope maker who was left with a hole the size of a fist in his head. Sailor James Caldwell was hit twice before dying, and Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally wounded.  

Boston Massacre Fueled Anti-British Views

Within hours, Preston and his soldiers were arrested and jailed and the propaganda machine was in full force on both sides of the conflict.

Preston wrote his version of the events from his jail cell for publication, while Sons of Liberty leaders such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams incited colonists to keep fighting the British. As tensions rose, British troops retreated from Boston to Fort William.

Paul Revere encouraged anti-British attitudes by etching a now-famous engraving depicting British soldiers callously murdering American colonists. It showed the British as the instigators though the colonists had started the fight.

It also portrayed the soldiers as vicious men and the colonists as gentlemen. It was later determined that Revere had copied his engraving from one made by Boston artist Henry Pelham.

John Adams Defends the British

It took seven months to arraign Preston and the other soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and bring them to trial. Ironically, it was American colonist, lawyer and future President of the United States John Adams who defended them.

Adams was no fan of the British but wanted Preston and his men to receive a fair trial. After all, the death penalty was at stake and the colonists didn’t want the British to have an excuse to even the score. Certain that impartial jurors were nonexistent in Boston, Adams convinced the judge to seat a jury of non-Bostonians.

During Preston’s trial, Adams argued that confusion that night was rampant. Eyewitnesses presented contradictory evidence on whether Preston had ordered his men to fire on the colonists.

But after witness Richard Palmes testified that, “…After the Gun went off I heard the word ‘fire!’ The Captain and I stood in front about half between the breech and muzzle of the Guns. I don’t know who gave the word to fire,” Adams argued that reasonable doubt existed; Preston was found not guilty.

The remaining soldiers claimed self-defense and were all found not guilty of murder. Two of them—Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy—were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on the thumbs as first offenders per English law.

To Adams’ and the jury’s credit, the British soldiers received a fair trial despite the vitriol felt towards them and their country.

Aftermath of the Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre had a major impact on relations between Britain and the American colonists. It further incensed colonists already weary of British rule and unfair taxation and roused them to fight for independence.

Yet perhaps Preston said it best when he wrote about the conflict and said, “None of them was a hero. The victims were troublemakers who got more than they deserved. The soldiers were professionals…who shouldn’t have panicked. The whole thing shouldn’t have happened.”

Over the next five years, the colonists continued their rebellion and staged the Boston Tea Party , formed the First Continental Congress and defended their militia arsenal at Concord against the redcoats, effectively launching the American Revolution . Today, the city of Boston has a Boston Massacre site marker at the intersection of Congress Street and State Street, a few yards from where the first shots were fired.

After the Boston Massacre. John Adams Historical Society. Boston Massacre Trial. National Park Service: National Historical Park of Massachusetts. Paul Revere’s Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The Boston Massacre. Bostonian Society Old State House. The Boston “Massacre.” H.S.I. Historical Scene Investigation.

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The killing of Christopher Seider and the end of the rope

From mob to “massacre”.

• Aftermath and agitprop

What was the Boston Massacre?

Why did the boston massacre happen.

• What are the American colonies?
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Boston Massacre

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• Table Of Contents

The incident was the climax of growing unrest in Boston , fueled by colonists’ opposition to a series of acts passed by the British Parliament . Especially unpopular was an act that raised revenue through duties on lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea. On March 5, 1770, a crowd confronted eight British soldiers in the streets of the city. As the mob insulted and threatened them, the soldiers fired their muskets, killing five colonists.

In 1767 the British Parliament passed the Townshend Acts , designed to exert authority over the colonies. One of the acts placed duties on various goods, and it proved particularly unpopular in Massachusetts . Tensions began to grow, and in Boston in February 1770 a patriot mob attacked a British loyalist, who fired a gun at them, killing a boy. In the ensuing days brawls between colonists and British soldiers eventually culminated in the Boston Massacre.

Why was the Boston Massacre important?

The incident and the trials of the British soldiers, none of whom received prison sentences, were widely publicized and drew great outrage. The events contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in much of colonial North America and helped lead to the American Revolution .

Boston Massacre , (March 5, 1770), skirmish between British troops and a crowd in Boston , Massachusetts . Widely publicized, it contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in much of colonial North America in the years before the American Revolution .

In 1767, in an attempt to recoup the considerable treasure expended in the defense of its North American colonies during the French and Indian War (1754–63), the British Parliament enacted strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties in the colonies. Those duties were part of a series of four acts that became known as the Townshend Acts , which also were intended to assert Parliament’s authority over the colonies, in marked contrast to the policy of salutary neglect that had been practiced by the British government during the early to mid-18th century. The imposition of those duties—on lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea upon their arrival in colonial ports—met with angry opposition from many colonists in Massachusetts. In addition to organized boycotts of those goods, the colonial response took the form of harassment of British officials and vandalism. Parliament answered British colonial authorities’ request for protection by dispatching the 14th and 29th regiments of the British army to Boston, where they arrived in October 1768. The presence of those troops, however, heightened the tension in an already anxious environment .

Early in 1770, with the effectiveness of the boycott uneven, colonial radicals, many of them members of the Sons of Liberty , began directing their ire against those businesses that had ignored the boycott. The radicals posted signs (large hands emblazoned with the word importer ) on the establishments of boycott-violating merchants and berated their customers. On February 22, when Ebenezer Richardson, who was known to the radicals as an informer, tried to take down one of those signs from the shop of his neighbour Theophilus Lillie, he was set upon by a group of boys. The boys drove Richardson back into his own nearby home, from which he emerged to castigate his tormentors, drawing a hail of stones that broke Richardson’s door and front window. Richardson and George Wilmont, who had come to his defense, armed themselves with muskets and accosted the boys who had entered Richardson’s backyard. Richardson fired, hitting 11-year-old Christopher Seider (or Snyder or Snider; sources differ on his last name), who died later that night. Seemingly, only the belief that Richardson would be brought to justice in court prevented the crowd from taking immediate vengeance upon him.

With tensions running high in the wake of Seider’s funeral, brawls broke out between soldiers and rope makers in Boston’s South End on March 2 and 3. On March 4 British troops searched the rope works owned by John Gray for a sergeant who was believed to have been murdered. Gray, having heard that British troops were going to attack his workers on Monday, March 5, consulted with Col. William Dalrymple, the commander of the 14th Regiment. Both men agreed to restrain those in their charge, but rumours of an imminent encounter flew.

On the morning of March 5 someone posted a handbill ostensibly from the British soldiers promising that they were determined to defend themselves. That night a crowd of Bostonians roamed the streets, their anger fueled by rumours that soldiers were preparing to cut down the so-called Liberty Tree (an elm tree in what was then South Boston from which effigies of men who had favoured the Stamp Act had been hung and on the trunk of which was a copper-plated sign that read “The Tree of Liberty”) and that a soldier had attacked an oysterman. One element of the crowd stormed the barracks of the 29th Regiment but was repulsed. Bells rang out an alarm and the crowd swelled , but the soldiers remained in their barracks, though the crowd pelted the barracks with snowballs. Meanwhile, the single sentry posted outside the Customs House became the focus of the rage for a crowd of 50–60 people. Informed of the sentry’s situation by a British sympathizer, Capt. Thomas Preston marched seven soldiers with fixed bayonets through the crowd in an attempt to rescue the sentry. Emboldened by the knowledge that the Riot Act had not been read—and that the soldiers could not fire their weapons until it had been read and then only if the crowd failed to disperse within an hour—the crowd taunted the soldiers and dared them to shoot (“provoking them to it by the most opprobrious language,” according to Thomas Gage , commander in chief of the British army in America). Meanwhile, they pelted the troops with snow, ice, and oyster shells.

In the confusion, one of the soldiers, who were then trapped by the patriot mob near the Customs House, was jostled and, in fear, discharged his musket . Other soldiers, thinking they had heard the command to fire, followed suit. Three crowd members—including Crispus Attucks , a Black sailor who likely was formerly enslaved—were shot and died almost immediately. Two of the eight others who were wounded died later. Hoping to prevent further violence, Lieut. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson , who had been summoned to the scene and arrived shortly after the shooting had taken place, ordered Preston and his contingent back to their barracks, where other troops had their guns trained on the crowd. Hutchinson then made his way to the balcony of the Old State House, from which he ordered the other troops back into the barracks and promised the crowd that justice would be done, calming the growing mob and bringing an uneasy peace to the city.

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Course: US history   >   Unit 3

• The Seven Years' War: background and combatants
• The Seven Years' War: battles and legacy
• Seven Years' War: lesson overview
• Seven Years' War
• Pontiac's uprising
• Uproar over the Stamp Act
• The Townshend Acts and the committees of correspondence

The Boston Massacre

• Prelude to revolution
• The Boston Tea Party
• The Intolerable Acts and the First Continental Congress
• Lexington and Concord
• The Second Continental Congress
• The Declaration of Independence
• Women in the American Revolution
• The American Revolution

• Boston, Massachusetts was a hotbed of radical revolutionary thought and activity leading up to 1770.
• In March 1770, British soldiers stationed in Boston opened fire on a crowd, killing five townspeople and infuriating locals.
• What became known as the Boston Massacre intensified anti-British sentiment and proved a pivotal event leading up to the American Revolution.

Boston, cradle of revolution

What do you think.

• Richard Archer, As If an Enemy’s Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), xvi.
• For more, see Neil L. York, The Boston Massacre: A History with Documents (New York: Routledge, 2010).
• See Neil Longley York, "Rival Truths, Political Accommodation, and the Boston 'Massacre,'" Massachusetts Historical Review , Volume 11 (2009), 57–95.
• Hiller B. Zobel, The Boston Massacre (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1970), 301-302.

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Boston Massacre - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

The Boston Massacre, which took place on March 5, 1770, was a pivotal event in the lead up to the American Revolution. British troops opened fire on a group of colonists leading to the deaths of five individuals. This incident further strained the relationship between British authorities and American colonists, leading to greater agitation for independence. The aftermath of the Boston Massacre ultimately set the stage for the Revolutionary War.

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Investigating Multiple Perspectives on the Boston Massacre

Inquiry Question 1: Although we don't know exactly what happened the night of March 5, 1770, what does the existing evidence from the Boston Massacre teach us about pre-Revolutionary America?

Inquiry Question 2: In what ways did people's political beliefs, social networks, and lived experience shape their understanding of the Boston Massacre?

The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770

In 1768, British soldiers arrived in Boston, and lived alongside the colonists, sometimes paying to rent rooms in the colonists' houses. As British citizens, many colonists were angry to have armed regiments of the British military stationed in their city, but some colonists became friends with, and even married, soldiers.

The situation with the colonists and the soldiers grew tense and fights sometimes broke out between the two groups.  One of the worst skirmishes took place in Boston on March 5, 1770.  A crowd of angry colonists, some of them teenagers, gathered near several soldiers at the Custom House, where taxes on imported goods were paid.  The colonists shouted insults at the soldiers and began throwing rocks and snowballs at them.

As the crowd moved forward, the soldiers opened fire. Three colonists were killed on the spot, and two others died later.

Among the dead was a Black and Indigenous sailor from Massachusetts named Crispus Attucks.  Many people consider Crispus Attucks to be the first person killed in the fight for the colonies’ freedom.

Paul Revere, a Boston silversmith who was also a member of the Sons of Liberty, made a picture of the shooting and titled it The Bloody Massacre .  A massacre is the killing of many people who cannot defend themselves.  This event soon became known as the Boston Massacre, and gave energy to the colonists’ desire for independence from British rule.

The soldiers who were involved in the event were put on trial in Boston. They were defended by the lawyer John Adams, a future president of the United States. The British soldiers were acquitted of murder by a jury who determined that the soldiers had acted in self-defense.

Use our Image Comparison Tool  to compare visual representations of the Boston Massacre side-by-side. The tool contains a total of seven engravings, along with an 1801 painting that depicts the setting of the Boston Massacre, which took place in front of the old State House on State Street (then known as King Street).

For elementary students, use this slide deck to explore the sources.  

Download source set (Grades 8-12)

Customs : the government department that collects taxes on goods bought, sold, imported and exported. The “Customs House” was the building in Boston where the British government did this work, which also had a military protective presence.

Deposition : a formal recorded statement typically taken to be used in court. “Deponents” are individuals who have given this type of testimony under oath.

Propaganda : false, misleading, or biased ideas presented to an audience to gain support for a particular cause or leader. Propaganda can exist in many different forms: written, visual, verbal, etc.

Quarters : rooms that are provided for individuals to live in. In this case, “quarters” were provided for British soldiers and officers in Boston.

Regiment : a group of soldiers commanded by a colonel, who has supporting officers each in charge of smaller sub-groups of soldiers called companies. At this time, a standard British regiment had between 500-800 soldiers in it.

Siege : a military operation where an army tries to capture an area or town by surrounding it and stopping the movement of people / food / supplies.

Testimony : a formal recorded statement typically taken to be used in court.

Analysis Questions

Who is telling this account of the events surrounding the boston massacre, what is the relationship between the source creator and the events of the massacre, what purpose might have led to the creation of this source, for the two pamphlets: who is compiling these accounts and for what possible purpose, do you consider parts or the entirety of this account of the events surrounding the boston massacre to be reliable why or why not, how does this account of the events surrounding the boston massacre compare to the others you have viewed.

Created by MHS staff, Abigail Portu, and Kate Bowen

View the image with a transcript of Revere's text

A view of part of the town of Boston in New England and British ships of war landing their troops. . . On Friday Sept 30 1768 the Ships of War, armed Schooners, Transports &c Came up the Harbor and Anchored round the town, their Cannon loaded a Spring on their Cables, as for a regular Siege.

British General Thomas Gage sent regiments of British troops to Boston following protests during which Bostonians destroyed government property and threatened the British-appointed Governor Francis Bernard with physical violence. The influx of 4,000 soldiers (plus families and support staff) into a city of 16,000 was seen by some Bostonians as a punishment, interpreting the British ships of war moored off Boston’s Long Wharf as a symbolic siege , and the parades of British regiments through city streets as a show of force. Others took pride in the display of British strength. At first, troops stayed on their ships. Then, they moved into tents on Boston Common. Finally, they were quartered in Faneuil Hall, or paid Bostonians to rent out space in their warehouses, spare rooms, or homes.

Citation: A View of Part of the Town of Boston in New England and Brittish [sic] Ships of War Landing Their Troops 1768 (Original engraving by Paul Revere, 1768) Facsimile print issued by Alfred L. Sewell (Chicago, 1868), Massachusetts Historical Society,  https://www.masshist.org/database/3051 . 

Read an excerpt of Rowe's diary entries from March 5th and 6th, 1770.

5 March Monday Much snow fell too night… A Quarrell between the soldiers & Inhabitants… the 29th under the Command of Capt Preston fird on the People they killed five – wounded Several Others…Capt Preston Bears a good Character--he was taken in the night & Committed…the Inhabitants [of Boston] are greatly enraged and not without Reason

John Rowe was a politically active Boston merchant who maintained friendships with many patriots and loyalists. In his diary, Rowe recorded the years leading up to the Revolution, revealing frustration with perceived British overreach and skepticism about the violence the Sons of Liberty used to advance their cause. Rowe did not witness the Boston Massacre, but recorded what he heard and thought that night, and the next day.

Citation: John Rowe diary 7, 5-6 March 1770, pages 1073, 1076-1077, Massachusetts Historical Society,  https://www.masshist.org/database/552 .

Compare Revere's engraving side-by-side with other depictions of the Boston Massacre .

If scalding drops from rage, from anguish wrung If speechless sorrow, lab’ring for a tongue Or if a weeping world can ought appease The plaintive ghosts of victims such as these The patriot’s copious tears for each are shed A glorious tribute which embalms the dead…    The unhappy sufferers were Mesr’s Sam’l Gray, Sam’l Maverick, James Caldwell Crispus Attucks, & Patr. Carr Killed Six wounded; two of them (Christ’r Monk & John Clark) mortally.

Before the end of March 1770, Paul Revere created and published this engraving of the Boston Massacre based on the original drawing by Henry Pelham. This piece was printed throughout the colonies and remains one of the most famous images of the American Revolutionary Era. The scene is generally considered by historians to be historically inaccurate and instead a piece of propaganda against the British military. For example, Revere changed the sign for the “ Customs House” where the British government housed officials and conducted much of their business to read “Butcher’s Hall.”

Citation: The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment, Hand-colored engraving by Paul Revere, Boston, 1770, Massachusetts Historical Society,  https://www.masshist.org/database/151 .

Read the cover page in simplified language (Google slide)

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.

​​James Bowdoin, Samuel Pemberton, and Joseph Warren (all of whom were then Boston selectmen at the time and active members of the Sons of Liberty ) collected ninety-six depositions within two weeks of the Boston Massacre. They published this pamphlet as a narrative, followed by the first-hand accounts. Copies were sent to England and distributed throughout the colonies to share their perspective on the events of March 5, 1770.

Citation: A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston..., Edes and Gill (Boston, 1770), Massachusetts Historical Society,  https://www.masshist.org/database/337 . 

Read the cover page in simplified language (Google Slide)

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

Led by Lieutenant Colonel William Dalrymple of the 29th Regiment , British officers collected thirty-one witness testimonies after the Boston Massacre and shipped them to England. London lawyer Francis Maseres used those testimonies to write the narrative of events featured in this pamphlet, providing King George III and the British people with their first perspectives of the event.

Citation: A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston in New England,  printed for B. White (London, 1770), Massachusetts Historical Society,  https://www.masshist.org/database/386 . 

Read an excerpted transcript.

Mar. 27. Joseph Whitehouse, Jane Crothers, Boston

These two pages from the marriage register of Christ Church, also known as Old North Church, record the marriage of Jane Crothers, a witness to the Boston Massacre, to Joseph Whitehouse, a British soldier of the 14th regiment , on March 27, 1770. Crothers was one of only three women who testified in the trials of Captain Thomas Preston and his soldiers. Her testimony , which was supported by others, assisted in clearing Capt. Preston of the charge of ordering his soldiers to fire into the crowd. Crothers said, “I am positive the man was not the Captain.” Instead, she said an unknown man had made the order. Her marriage to a British soldier was not mentioned during the trial.

In addition to showing the social connections between British soldiers and Bostonians, this marriage register also documents the membership and marriages of free and enslaved Black people at Old North Church.

Citation: List of marriages officiated by Rev. Mather Byles, Jr., November 1768 - February 1773, Clark's Register, 1723-1851, pages 124a and 124b, Massachusetts Historical Society,  https://www.masshist.org/database/6505 .  

Download source set (grades 8-12)

Historical Context Essay  

Download source set with context and teacher directions (grades 3-5)

The Story of the Boston Massacre and the Legacy of Crispus Attucks Google Slides (grades 3-5)

Investigating Perspectives on the Boston Massacre

Background reading.

Investigating Perspectives on the Boston Massacre: Historical Context Essay

The Townshend Acts: Fall 1767

The Boston Massacre could not have happened if British soldiers were not stationed in the city. And the soldiers would not have been there if not for the Townshend Acts–and the distrust between colonists and the customs officials charged with collecting the taxes.

Following the repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts on 29 June 1767. This time, the tax came in the form of a duty on imports–including paper, glass, lead, paint, and tea–into the colonies. British legislators hoped to avoid a repeat of the colonists’ furious reaction to the Stamp Act as they pondered how to generate revenue from the colonies and remind those colonies of Parliament's right to tax—and control—them. The Acts were named for Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was—as the chief treasurer of the British Empire—in charge of economic and financial matters. With the repeal of the Stamp Act, Great Britain believed it needed money to defray the expenses of governing the colonies in America. The Acts created a new Customs Commission and punished New York for refusing to abide by the Quartering Act of 1765. 

In a series of twelve letters from a “Farmer in Pennsylvania” , John Dickinson argued that colonists were being taxed unjustly since they lacked representation in Parliament, which was their right as British subjects. Angry Bostonians committed themselves to nonconsumption, in which they refused to buy imported goods, and then many Boston merchants came together to agree on a policy of nonimportation, in which they refused to import the taxed goods.

When the customs commissioners accused John Hancock of smuggling and seized his sloop, Bostonians organized a protest in which they stoned commissioners’ houses and burned a commissioner’s racing sailboat on Boston Common. Boston’s rowdy protests terrified the commissioners. 

By the fall of 1768, following a period of timidity and indecision by Governor Bernard, the commissioners finally felt that they had some support that could be trusted: four regiments of the British Army. General Gage (in Great Britain) had sent Governor Bernard a blank form he could use to call up two regiments from Halifax (in Canada), in addition to two regiments preparing to embark from Ireland. Bernard tried desperately to lay the blame for the request of troops elsewhere, knowing how deeply unpopular their arrival would be. (previous two paragraphs adapted from Serena Zabin's  The Boston Massacre: A Family History , p.39-40)

Troops Arrive in Boston: Fall 1768

When the 14th and 29th Regiments of the British Army landed in Boston Harbor in late September 1768 (Source 1) , the Governor’s Council wanted the Regiments housed in barracks on Castle Island in Boston Harbor (7 miles by land and 3 miles by sea from the city center) but the Governor and Generals wanted the regiments quartered in the heart of Boston. Ultimately, after long negotiations, the army agreed to pay locals for the rental of private rooms and empty warehouses. For example, John Rowe rented the military one of his warehouses. 

But how would colonists and soldiers get along with one another? The soldiers – some of whom arrived with their wives and children – were a varied group, with many different hopes, skill sets, and ideas.

Bostonians were a similarly varied group:

The “Sons of Liberty” was an informal network of men opposed to the Massachusetts Governor, but not all Bostonians were steadfast opponents of British power. In 1770, they were not sorted into tidy factions of loyalist and patriot; they did not yet conceive of those terms as necessarily distinct, not diametrically opposed. They were all Britons, although they did not all agree on the best way for Britain to rule. (Zabin, Introduction)

The Boston Massacre: 5 March 1770

By the winter of 1770, clashes between civilians and soldiers of the 14th and 29th regiments, the last troops remaining in Boston, had become more frequent. After a series of clashes between soldiers and workers at John Gray's ropewalks during the weekend of 2 March, many Bostonians predicted additional trouble was to come. On the evening of 5 March, a lone sentry posted in front of the Customs House – the site where officials tasked with collecting the Townshend duties worked in the daytime – was hassled by a group of teenagers. As the crowd swelled, Captain Thomas Preston led seven soldiers from the Twenty-ninth Regiment to reinforce the sentry, but he could not persuade the growing crowd to disperse. Amidst the noise and confusion, shots were fired; three civilians were killed instantly and two more were mortally wounded. Within hours of the episode, Captain Preston and his men were in jail, and townspeople immediately demanded that the troops be removed from Boston. Newspapers scrambled to report the news of the tumultuous week and its capstone event.

The Aftermath

Today, asking, “What really happened? Who yelled ‘fire’?” is a tempting, but ultimately futile question. Hundreds of accounts and witness testimonies recorded shortly after the shooting exist, so a lack of sources is not the issue. The problem arises when one begins to read the sources: In 1770, no one could agree on what happened that night either! The street was pitch-black; street lamps (lit with an open flame) would not be imported to Boston until the beginning of 1774. Observers were stationed on the street, on balconies, on doorsteps, and inside, peering through windows. People had different vantage points and obstacles blocking their line of sight. Moreover, people had different motivations, social relationships, and prior experiences that colored their perspectives that night.  The wealthy merchant John Rowe, who had been born in England and immigrated to Boston in his 20s, had also long protested British tax policies; however, he also frequently socialized with and entertained government officials and high-ranking members of the military. His diary entry the night of the Massacre expressed how conflicted he felt about the event (Source 2) . When Paul Revere hastily created his engraving The Bloody Massacre (Source 3) , based on an engraving by Henry Pelham, he had already spent years as a member of the Sons of Liberty, publicly protesting British tax policies and the military’s presence in Boston (like the Source 1 image). Jane Crothers, a working-class woman and parishioner at Old North Church who witnessed the Massacre on the street, testified in court that Captain Preston had absolutely not been the person to yell ‘Fire!’ Was she influenced by the fact that she married Joseph Whitehouse , a soldier in the 14th Regiment, three weeks after the soldiers shot and killed five men? (Source 6) 

Three Boston selectmen–all members of the Sons of Liberty–collected depositions from people who had witnessed the event itself, and also talked to people about interactions between soldiers and civilians in the days and weeks leading up to 5 March. They published a pamphlet entitled A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre (Source 4) in which they used the depositions they had collected to tell a story of the soldiers’ premeditated murder of unarmed colonists. The British military also collected their own set of witness depositions, which they sent back to England to be published in a competing pamphlet entitled A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance (Source 5). In each pamphlet, depositions make clear that Bostonians knew, worked with, lived beside, ang argued with the soldiers. Following the chaos of the snowy night on 5 March 1770, and the propaganda that followed in its wake, one thing was clear: some Bostonians may have liked–and even married–individual soldiers, but the presence of a standing army in Boston had to go. 

Works Cited

Zabin, Serena. The Boston Massacre: A Family History (2020)

Coming of the American Revolution: Boston Massacre (masshist.org)

Close Reading Questions

• Which words/phrases in the title and/or caption of his engraving supports this reading?
• How might the size and placement of British troops and ships in the engraving have caused viewers to support Paul Revere’s point of view about the arrival of the British troops?
• What does this engraving add to your understanding of the Boston Massacre?
• How does this engraving relate to Revere’s 1770 engraving of “The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street” (Source 3)?

View Source .

• For whom does Rowe show sympathy in his description of the event? How do you know?
• How might Rowe’s social and economic position in Boston society have affected his perspective on the event?
• Do you find him credible? Why/why not?
• According to Rowe, in his entry on March 6, 1770, what were the immediate causes of the Boston Massacre? How did Bostonians react to it?

View Source.

• Paul Revere was a member of the Sons of Liberty. What elements of this engraving and caption would been compelling to the Sons of Liberty and their supporters?
• Consider both imagery and the ways in which Revere describes the victims and their deaths/injuries.
• What information does the title of this pamphlet give you about the events of March 5, 1770? What questions still need to be answered?
• What was the creators’ point of view of the event? Which words best show their perspective?
• What would you expect to learn from the narrative and depositions inside the pamphlet?
• How does the title of this source compare to the pamphlet printed in London ( Source 5 )?
• How does the title of this source compare to the pamphlet created from the pamphlet printed in Boston ( Source 4 )?
• How does this record of the marriage between a Bostonian and a British soldier challenge ideas about the general relationship between the two groups in 1770?
• How might Jane Crothers’ testimony in the trial of the soldiers have been affected by her as both a Bostonian and the wife of a soldier?
• How is a source like a church record different to analyze than a written / spoken testimony or diary entry? How can it support or challenge other sources you examine when looking at a historical event?

Read a transcript .

Suggested Activities – Elementary

Propaganda in Colonial Massachusetts handout

Propaganda in Colonial Massachusetts – Google Slides

This activity uses these two primary sources:

A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston...

A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston in New England

Activity Overview: These sources are designed to be used before the teaching of the Boston Massacre and serve as a “hook” to develop interest in the event.  The sources are both pamphlets, designed and printed by Patriots and British officials, and include recollections from people about the events of March 5, 1770.   The pamphlets were distributed in the colony prior to the trials of the British soldiers.  

This is designed to be a teacher-guided activity where students find sourcing information from the pamphlets and draw inferences about the creators’ purposes and points of view.

Using a Plot Diagram to teach historical events

The Story of the Boston Massacre – Google slides

Activity Overview: Using a Plot Diagram on your wall or bulletin board helps students see the path that a story follows from beginning to end.  It is also a great way to reinforce elements of a story by integrating English-Language Arts skills with historical content.  Using visuals on the Plot Diagram helps students, especially English Language Learners, to remember key details.  

A plot diagram contains 5 elements: Setting, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution. The Google slides show how a plot diagram can be used to teach the Boston Massacre.

The Boston Massacre Close Reading: Informational Text Handout

Activity Overview:

The Close Reading handout contains two options:

• Students read and annotate an informational text to understand the context for and events of March 5, 1770.
• Students read an informational text with vocabulary supports and then write a paragraph summarizing the Boston Massacre, using three vocabulary content words in their summary.

Annotating John Rowe's diary entry Handout

Activity Overview:  Students read excerpts of a Boston merchant's diary entries for March 5 and 6, 1770. Rowe did not witness the event, but writes brief descriptions of what happened the night of the event and the next day; how the townspeople reacted to the event, and how he personally felt about it. Rowe was neutral in the Revolution, and his sympathies for both the soldiers and the victims is evident. While they read, students annotate for the: setting, emotion words, and actions. This activity will help students to have a basic overview of what happened on March 5, 1770, and in its immediate aftermath, before they read conflicting witness accounts.

Witness Testimony excerpts and chart

Optional: Fire! Voices of the Boston Massacre - YouTube (8-minute video featuring historical reinterpreters presenting witness testimony)

Activity Overview:  Working in groups, students read an excerpted testimony of one person who witnessed the Boston Massacre, taking notes on the witness’s identity. Then, they discuss whether the witness testimony supported the British soldiers or the Patriots, citing evidence for their claim. In  a share-out, students take notes on the testimonies other groups read.

The handout includes testimonies from five diverse witnesses: a free Black man; a white woman who married a British soldier three weeks after the Boston Massacre; a white nightwatchman; a white man who was neighbors with one of the British soldiers standing trial; and, an enslaved man whose enslaver was a member of the Sons of Liberty.

Suggested Activities – High School

To engage students in the topic, teachers can begin with either a “game of telephone” or a “quick sketch” to introduce students to the idea that not all primary sources are reliable or accurate.

Overview – A Game of Telephone: Come up with a selection of short phrases or statements. They can be funny or serious, related to history or not.

Have students sit or stand in a circle or straight line. They will need to be close enough so that whispering to the person next to them is possible, but not so close that other players can hear. The teacher should show or whisper the phrase to the first student, who will then relay what they heard to the next student and so forth until the final student has heard the phrase.

Students can only whisper the phrase once to the person next to them and cannot repeat it if the message was not remembered or not clear.

The last player then says what they believe the phrase to be out loud for all to hear. (For a large class, the students can be divided into two teams and each group can be given the same phrase to start and then compare which group was more accurate at the end.)

Discuss how the phrase does or does not change and the complexities of hearing and memory when it comes to repeating word for word phrases. How might this play out in history when it comes to major events? How might this play out in the modern day / in their own lives? How is this important when it comes to analyzing primary sources?

Overview – “Quick Sketch”: Select a famous historical photograph or painting.

Provide each student with a blank piece of paper and pen/pencill.

Display the image on the front board for all the students to see. Give students 60 seconds to look at the image, but do not let them draw yet.

Then, remove the image so they can no longer see it. Ask them to recreate the image on their paper (2-4 minutes).

Put the image back up on the board and discuss. What elements of the image did all/most students include? What elements were most commonly left out? Were there any elements of the image that students exaggerated, changed, or got wrong? How might memory and describing what someone saw play out in history when it comes to major events and how might it affect primary sources we analyze?

Historical Overview

Source 3: Paul Revere’s engraving, The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment (masshist.org)

Source 4: A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston... (masshist.org)

Source 5:   A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston in New England (masshist.org)

Cover Art Handout

Activity Overview:  After reading the historical overview and analyzing Revere’s engraving alongside the two pamphlet covers, students will create cover art to accompany one of the two pamphlets.  Then, students explain why/how their image would support their chosen pamphlet.

“Deposition Excerpts” handout taken from:

• A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston... and
•   A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston in New England 

Gallery Walk Worksheet

Gallery Walk Discussion Prompts

Teacher Prep: Read through the “Deposition Excerpts” document and select the excerpts to use with students to analyze the Boston Massacre. (Print-friendly versions of the quotes are available after the table in the document.)

Activity Overview: Students read the background historical overview and analyze the covers of Source 4: Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre and Source 5: A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston. Now, they are ready to dive into some of the depositions in the two pamphlets. For the gallery walk, display the selected excerpts around the room and provide students with the Gallery Walk Worksheet . Students will walk around the classroom analyzing the excerpts on their worksheet. Each of the documents gives information on a different part of the story and students will decide which perspective they believe is being supported by the document and which of the two pamphlets they believe the deposition was taken from.

At the end, students review correct answers and discuss (whole group) or write (individually) about one or more of the discussion prompts .

Boston Massacre Jigsaw Teacher Directions 

Deposition Excerpts - Jigsaw Handout

Boston Massacre Jigsaw: Student Directions

Boston Massacre Jigsaw: discussion prompts

Teacher Prep:

Choose and print deposition excerpts from the handout for students to use.

Activity Overview: Students work in groups to read excerpts from the two pamphlets containing depositions from the Boston Massacre. They then summarize the topic / issue and point of view expressed in their text set. Students will also address the credibility / accuracy of the sources they examined in their summaries. After 20 minutes, each group shares out with the whole class, and takes notes on one another’s text sets. Following the jigsaw, students can continue to discuss as a class or write individually on one or more of the discussion prompts.

“Expressing Our Opinions” Worksheet

Activity Overview: Students examine all of the ways voices and opinions are expressed today in comparison to the ways that existed in 1770 Boston. Before this activity, students should read the background historical overview. As homework, students research and think about the different ways they hear/look for news today. In class, students examine the primary sources in this set (teacher can choose which the sources) and fill out the Expressing Our Opinions Worksheet . The teacher should then facilitate a class discussion, think-pair-share, or small group discussion for students to explain their thinking and opinions.

Applicable Standards

Skill Standards Organize information and data from multiple primary and secondary sources

Analyze the purpose and point of view of each source; distinguish opinion from fact.

Evaluate the credibility, accuracy, and relevance of each source.

Argue or explain conclusions using valid reasoning and evidence

Content Standards Grade 3, Topic 6, Topic 6. Massachusetts in the 18th century through the American Revolution

Grade 5, Topic 2. Reasons for revolution, the Revolutionary War, and the formation of government

Grade 8. Topic 1. The philosophical foundations of the U.S. political system Topic 2. The development of the U.S. government Topic 4. Rights and responsibilities of citizens

US History 1, Topic 1. Origins of the Revolution and the Constitution

D2.His.4.3-5. Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.

D2.His.11.3-5. Infer the intended audience and purpose of a historical source from information within the source itself.

D2.His.16.3-5. Use evidence to develop a claim about the past.

D2.His.6.6-8. Analyze how people’s perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.

D2.His.10.6-8. Detect possible limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kind of historical sources.

D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.

D2.His.6.9-12. Analyze the ways in which the perspectives of those writing history shaped the history that they produced.

D2.His.10.9-12. Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations.

Use the Image Comparison Tool to compare engravings of the Boston Massacre in the MHS collections side-by-side.

Images include:

• State Street, 1801 : James Brown Marston's painting depicts the site of the Boston Massacre, in front of the old State House (then known as the Town House). "King Street" was renamed "State Street" in 1784, following the end of the Revolutionary War.
• Bingley engraving : Published by W. Bingley of London, it was based on Henry Pelham's original print and originally designed as the frontispiece for the pamphlet  A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre. It was also sold separately.
• Dilly engraving : Based on Henry Pelham's, this engraving was used as the frontispiece for the second edition of the pamphlet  A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre
• Mullikan engraving : The clockmaker Joseph Mulliken based this image on Paul Revere's engraving, and printed it in Newburyport, MA.
• Revere's 1772 woodcut engraving : Paul Revere based this image on his 1770 engraving; it was used in a broadside commemorating the Boston Massacre and was also printed in a 1772 Massachusetts almanac .  
• 1835 Hartwell woodcut : Based on Paul Revere's 1770 engraving, this image was printed in various magazines in the 1830s and '40s.
• 1856 Bufford lithograph : Unlike the earlier images that features all victims and bystanders as white, this lithograph centers Crispus Attucks, a Black and Indigenous man

Henry Pelham’s Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre (American Antiquarian Society)

Paul Revere based his engraving of the Boston Massacre on one done first by Henry Pelham (a Bostonian and future Loyalist). View Pelham’s original engraving at the AAS website.

Explore additional primary sources related to the Boston Massacre, and the earlier death of Christopher Seider, in this digital textbook produced by the MHS.

Perspectives on the Boston Massacre - Massachusetts Historical Society (masshist.org)

Examine materials from a variety of source types to learn more about the varying perspectives and experiences regarding March 5, 1770.

Massachusetts Historical Society | Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Massacre (masshist.org)

In 2020, the MHS organized an exhibition featuring handwritten and published sources with compelling accounts of the confrontation, the aftermath, and the trials. This website is the digital companion to the physical exhibit.

Revolutionary Spaces is a museum based at the Old State House, the site of the Boston Massacre that explores connections between the past and present.

On-site programming includes a tour on the Massacre and Memory and an exhibit entitled “Framing Mass Killings.”

Digital resources include a video called “Political Violence: From the Boston Massacre to Today” and a blog post on “The Boston Massacre and Modern Police Violence.”

Old North Church

Illuminating the Unseen | The Old North Church  From the website of Old North Church: “Illuminating the Unseen is a video series produced by Old North Illuminated that studies the histories of Black and Indigenous peoples. Written and presented by our Research Fellow, Dr. Jaimie Crumley, the series dives into Old North’s archival documents to shine a light on those who have often been excluded in the church’s broader historical narrative.”

The Occupation of 1768 and the Threat to Boston | The Old North Church & Historic Site British soldiers arrived in Boston, MA in 1768 and departed in the spring of 1770. This article situates the Boston Massacre within the timeline of the British occupation, and examines the ways in which it did and did not influence the British Parliament to withdraw troops from the city.

Boston 1775 , a blog run by Massachusetts writer J.L. Bell, specializes in the start of the American Revolution in Massachusetts.

Find posts on Newton Prince , Jane (Crothers) Whitehouse , Joseph Whitehouse , and more.

Boston 1775: Pvt. Joseph Whitehouse’s Story about Capt. Goldfinch Learn more about Joseph Whitehouse, 14th Regiment soldier and husband to Bostonian Jane Whitehouse. What did Whitehouse tell his superiors about British soldiers’ experience with Boston’s townspeople, and why might some of his accounts seem unreliable?

Boston 1775: Newton Prince: London pensioner Following the outbreak of war in MA, how did Newton Prince’s testimony related to the Boston Massacre help him secure a pension as a Loyalist living in London?

"Fire! Voices of the Boston Massacre" is an eight-minute video featuring reenactors reciting portions of actual depositions of people who witnessed the events on King Street the night of 5 March 1770. Although they all witnessed the happenings, they stood in different locations and their accounts are not consistent with one another.

The historical figures portrayed are: 

• Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch of the 14th Regiment (the soldiers who fired their weapons came from the 29th Regiment)
• Edward Garrick (or Gerrish), a young wigmaker’s apprentice
• Edward Payne, a merchant who lived near the Custom House, Payne was shot by a soldier but survived (the MHS has the bullets that pierced his arm)
• Newton Prince, a free Black man (a lemon merchant and pastry cook—about 35 years old)
• Jane Crothers (she married a British soldier named Joseph Whitehouse soon after the shootings)
• Charles Bourgate, a French Canadian indentured servant of Edward Manwaring
• Elizabeth Avery, a maid who lived and worked in the Custom House

Read the script (the excerpted depositions) for each historical figure.

Questions or suggestions? Contact us at [email protected] .

Home / Essay Samples / History / History of The United States / Boston Massacre

Boston Massacre Essay Examples

The history of boston massacre city.

The 21st most populous city in the United States, Boston is home to some 694,583 people. It is the capital of Massachusetts. The city covers a land area of 48 square miles. Boston also anchors the economic and cultural pillar of a larger metropolitan area...

Boston Massacre: a Pivotal Event for American Society and History

What was the Boston Massacre and why did it happen? This is whar we are going to analyse in the essay. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, during the colonial period of American history. It was a violent confrontation between...

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About Boston Massacre

March 5th, 1770

Boston, United States

The incident and the trials of the British soldiers, none of whom received prison sentences, were widely publicized and drew great outrage. The events contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in much of colonial North America and helped lead to the American Revolution.

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