For the 2013 bombing, see Boston Marathon bombing. Amid tense relations between the civilians and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry and verbally abused loaded bloody mary. He was eventually supported by seven additional soldiers, led by Captain Thomas Preston, who were hit by clubs, stones, and snowballs. Eventually, one soldier fired, prompting the others to fire without an order by Preston.

The gunfire instantly killed three people and wounded eight others, two of whom later died of their wounds. The crowd eventually dispersed after Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson promised an inquiry, but they re-formed the next day, prompting the withdrawal of the troops to Castle Island. Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder, and they were defended by future U. Depictions, reports, and propaganda about the event heightened tensions throughout the Thirteen Colonies, notably the colored engraving produced by Paul Revere. The Old State House, seat of colonial government from 1713 to 1776. The cobblestone circle is labeled “Site of the Boston Massacre”, although the actual event occurred nearby on what is now a busy street.

Boston was the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and an important shipping town, and it was also a center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament in the 1760s. Lord Hillsborough had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, and he was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. Boston’s chief customs officer Charles Paxton wrote to Hillsborough for military support because “the Government is as much in the hands of the people as it was in the time of the Stamp Act. This 19th-century lithograph by Henry Pelham is a variation of Revere’s famous engraving, produced just before the American Civil War. It emphasizes Crispus Attucks, the black man in the center who became an important symbol for abolitionists. A wigmaker’s apprentice, approximately 13 years old, named Edward Garrick called out to Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch, accusing him of refusing to pay a bill due to Garrick’s master. As the evening progressed, the crowd around Private White grew larger and more boisterous.

Church bells were rung, which usually signified a fire, bringing more people out. More than 50 Bostonians pressed around White, led by a mixed-race former slave named Crispus Attucks, throwing objects at the sentry and challenging him to fire his weapon. The crowd continued to press around the soldiers, taunting them by yelling “Fire! Innkeeper Richard Palmes was carrying a cudgel, and he came up to Preston and asked if the soldiers’ weapons were loaded.

Three Americans died instantly: rope maker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks. The crowd moved away from the immediate area of the custom house but continued to grow in nearby streets. Captain Preston immediately called out most of the 29th Regiment, which adopted defensive positions in front of the state house. Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and Preston and the eight soldiers were arrested by the next morning.