...The Boston Massacre is known as the murdering of five American colonists by British soldiers. The exact cause of the Boston Massacre is unknown. Most commonly, it is said that the colonists were tormenting the soldiers that were simply trying to do their job.The colonists were said to be unarmed but they still had sticks and snowballs they were using as weapons. They were also yelling rude comments and daring the soldiers to fire. The colonists provoked the British soldiers to open fire on them. The colonists were basically asking to be shot at by yelling fire in a midst of a large group of soldiers with loaded guns, who were just waiting to hear that word come from their captain. Colonists also provoked the soldiers by hitting them with sticks and...
Words: 561 - Pages: 3
...During the event of the Boston Massacre, over two hundred colonists had cornered British troops, throwing snowballs with rocks and wielding clubs. They shouted at the troops to fire. Five colonists were killed and six others were injured. To a certain extent, many call this an accident, but with most of the facts given, the colonists deserved what had happened to them. In the Boston Massacre, two hundred colonists had cornered a few British soldiers. With weapons in hand, they threw snowballs, rocks, sticks, and they wielded clubs. Private Montgomery was struck in the head, falling to the ground. When he rose, he was the first to fire back, causing the other troops to fire as well. With the colonists shouting for the troops to fire at them, he could have easily mistaken the command to have came from his commanding officer. This was an act of self-defense. The troops had been...
Words: 471 - Pages: 2
...According to my book it all started on the evening of March 5, 1770 when a couple of boys started provoking a British sentinel outside of the British Custom House in Boston, Massachusetts. The group of boys continued to bother the sentry and pushed him to his boiling point that caused him to hit one of the boys with his weapon. As soon as this happened an angry crowd surrounded the sentry to scare him and told him to ask for help. It so then happened that the officer of the day was Thomas Preston. He rushed to the site with seven British soldiers to protect the sentry. When he arrived, Preston and the seven soldiers tried to calm down the crowd but there hard effort was worth nothing because the crowd continued to disturb the sentry. When...
Words: 1593 - Pages: 7
...Boston Massacre Table of Contents -How the gruesome event started and what happened -The nasty British soldiers perspective and the colonists perspective - The confusion before the Boston Massacre trials Introduction Think, why did the British do this, just why? "Stop, stop, now," the colonists shouted! "Fire, pop, pop, pop,'' goes the British Soldier's muskets. ''AAAAAHHHHHHH,'' the colonists scream! When you're in the streets and men fall to the ground dead! Another man, another, another, another!!! Blood everywhere, what would you do?!? The deadly Massacre from start to finish. The British compared to the colonists, two totally different perspectives. Three weeks after the Bloody Massacre, there were trials. The trials were long!! What happened to the soldiers, might you ask? The Boston Massacre was one very, very gruesome event!! How The Gruesome event started and what happened...
Words: 602 - Pages: 3
...Screams erupt throughout the crowd as a warm red liquid sprays across the snow-covered square. As smoke arises from the muskets, five bodies buckle to the ground. It is March 5, 1770, infamously known as The Boston Massacre. While the events in March 1770 were embellished on both the British and Colonists sides, the facts still remain. The accounts of the Boston Massacre, according to British officer Captain Thomas Preston, engender him as an innocent victim. Preston embellishes his account of events by depicting the colonists as savages, portraying himself as the victim, and hiding his shame of losing control of the situation Preston gives true accounts of the events of March 1770; however, he warps the events to rationalize his actions. In his version, he often describes the colonists as uncivilized and “insolent.” The colonists used “the most cruel and horrid Threats against the Troops” Preston illustrates the colonist as wild people, rioting, chanting, and beyond any means of control. Undergoing daily fist fights with the colonists, not once does he cite the actions of his soldiers for the brawls. He, in fact, states that every aggressive...
Words: 533 - Pages: 3
...March 5, 1770, a fight broke out between the soldiers and the colonists in Boston. This tragic event resulted in the Boston Massacre. It was a small riot and five Bostonians were killed and ten were injured. Some believe that it was an accident, while others think someone was to blame. However, I think the colonists are to blame for the incident. The British soldiers thought of the colonists as “trouble-makers.” They would taunt the soldiers but the soldiers were forbidden to fire their guns at the citizens. The Bostonians knew this, which only made them worse. The colonists would throw rocks and snow at the soldiers guarding the Boston Customs House, they would call them names, shout at them to fire, and hit their guns with sticks. Some...
Words: 326 - Pages: 2
...Thomas Preston mentioned upon arrival of the immense uproar, his attempt to intervene and persuade both groups to retreat peacefully had been ignored. Various colonist questioned his intentions of using such artillery upon them alongside with his troops. He followed up with stating, “No,by no means...I was advanced before the muzzles of the men’s pieces, and must fall a sacrifice if they fired (91).” From his account, Thomas Peterson took the initative to surrender himself to the sheriff when hearing about warrants being issued upon him and his men for the Boston Massacre. Unlike most men Thomas Peterson refused to runaway from his faults, but instaed he chose to face them head on. His noble demeanor demonstrated his desire to avoid any further conflict or bloodshed between the colonist and British troops at any cost...
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...Boston Massacre: Murder or Self Defense In 1770, a bloody massacre of five deaths took place on the cold streets of Boston. Nine soldiers including their captain were in King street, in Boston, when a young drunk lad went up to one of the soldiers. The soldier hit the young lad and he ran off into the same pub he had gotten drunk in to tell everyone else about the soldiers up in King street. A huge mob of colonists went to the soldiers and started throwing items like rocks, snowballs and sticks. The soldiers started firing on the crowd with their guns. After the event the soldiers were branded murderers by some and by others innocent, for using self defense. The British used their weapons in self defense. For instance, the British were outnumbered...
Words: 494 - Pages: 2
...In 1770, British soldiers shot and killed 5 people in Boston one night, and all of the colonists were furious at Britain and its army. But were they mad because of what actually happened, or was it because they were persuaded by someone’s depiction of what happened? Paul Revere’s Engraving was propaganda seen all throughout the colonies. Propaganda is ideas or statements that are often false, exaggerated, or biased in order to help a cause. It was propaganda because it was bias, exaggerated and false, and promoted furthering a cause or idea of starting the Revolution. Paul Revere’s Engraving was biased because it was altered in favor of the colonists. In the engraving, it showed that the British were bad with cruel intentions and that the colonists were innocent and had done nothing wrong. In the real story, many colonists had clubs and ice that they were using to provoke the British. But in the engraving, the colonists looked as though they were the ones being attacked, not the ones attacking. Also in the engraving, the British soldiers were looking mean and heartless. But rather they were...
Words: 532 - Pages: 3
...Sierra Emilaire It was a seemingly normal Monday in Boston on the cold, snowy night of March 5, 1770. Many families were already in the safety of their homes, while others were still roaming the streets for reasons unknown. It was quiet and everyone appeared to be minding their own business, little did the city of Boston know what was planned for that night and who would be killed as a result of it. In the years following up to the Massacre, the Board of Commissioners had started to assume control over the colony after their arrival in 1767. The presence of this Board was becoming “detrimental to the commerce and political interests of the town and the province”. The people of Boston saw them as no more than a nuisance and treated them...
Words: 507 - Pages: 3
...The Boston Massacre was a very tragic event that happened on March 5, 1770. It is a very important part of our history today. The Boston massacre was about the colonists and british throwing and firing things at each other, because the colonists started the event by breaking away from England and throwing objects at the British soldiers, and the British soldiers took it seriously and thought that they were declared to fight back. I think that the Boston Massacre happened as an accident. I believe this because the Boston soldiers were probably thinking the colonists were being cruel and wanting to actually start a war. One of the reasons that makes me believe that the Boston massacre was an accident is because the british soldiers thought that when they heard “Fire! Fire! Fire!” it was their captain and so they started firing guns and throwing snowballs like it says in one of the sources. Also the colonists had no idea that the british soldiers would fire guns and throw snowballs back at them or they never would’ve thrown sticks, rocks, snowballs ,or clubs at the British soldiers in the first place. I think the colonists got killed by an accident because the British soldiers used their instincts and fought back at the colonists before the colonists killed them before they...
Words: 650 - Pages: 3
...The Boston Massacre was a horrifying event that took place on March 5, 1770, killing 5 people 2 on accident, and 3 died on the spot. The causes of the Boston Massacre in 1770 were to enforce unpopular taxation measures passed by a British parliament that lacked American representation, an angry mob of American colonists gathering and taunting British soldiers, and the British reaction. The British weren’t welcomed at all that’s when the riot began. Fifty citizens attacked a British sentinel, objects were thrown and weapons were fired. Patriot mobs threw snowballs, stones, and sticks. Several colonists were injured or killed on the scene because of the British and this led to one of the biggest wars in American history. In this essay it will show why the colonist was horrified by the reaction of the British in the Boston massacre. Before the Boston massacre October 1768 the British had been billeted after repeated request from officials who had been harassed and imitated because their effort to enforce unpopular taxation or Townshend acts. The Townshend act caused problems because they were expected to impose duties and taxes on paper, lead, paints, and tea imported to colonies. The Boston massacre killed 5...
Words: 637 - Pages: 3
...Colonists being injured, killed, or merely living in fear of the Redcoats, general bloodshed everywhere: these are but a few results of the Boston Massacre. A failed rebellion in which only five of our fellow colonists were killed. You may think five is too small a number to take this as a definite defeat but will we just wait until more of our own have been murdered? If we had such a dramatic loss in something not even considered a battle, then imagine how many lives will be lost in a war. Even Patriots themselves recognize the defeat Britain took over us that day but what they don’t like to point out is that it will repeat itself yet in a more lethal manner. I ,Edward Rutledge;member of the 2nd Continental Congress and representative for the colony of Southern Carolina, am here as a Loyalist and ready to argue in favor of what I believe in: that we colonists are to remain loyal to the Crown as was once intended upon by our founding fathers. An absolute monarchy, as supported by Thomas Hobbes, is the only proper thing man needs. Man is naturally selfish and unprosperous which is why we take benefit from having an absolute monarchy like Britains’....
Words: 878 - Pages: 4
...On March 5, 1770, in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, an angry mob of Americans gathered in front of the town's Customs Office and began harassing the British soldiers that were on guard duty. “British Captain Thomas Preston, the commanding officer at the Customs House, ordered his men to fix their bayonets and join the guard outside the building.” Rather than backing down, the livid patriots reacted violently and began throwing snowballs and other objects at the British regulars. Private Hugh Montgomery was struck by one of these projectiles, raised his rifle, and fired the first shot of what came to be known as the Boston Massacre. The other soldiers soon followed and fired into the unarmed crowd. “When the smoke cleared, five colonist...
Words: 845 - Pages: 4
...The Boston Massacre, also known as the “Incident on King Street,” occurred on March 5, 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts. Before the Boston Massacre occurred, colonists were irate due to the Townshend Acts which was created by the British that put tax on tea, glass, lead, paints, paper goods, and many other common items. These items would be made in Britain and the exported to the colonies; therefore, Britain decided to put a tariff on these items, which included a fee for exporting and trade. The colonists were irate because they were British citizens. The Boston Massacre began with a small argument between British Private Hugh White and a few colonists outside the Custom House in Boston on King Street. The argument escalated, more colonists gathered and began to harass Private Hugh White by throwing sticks and snowballs at him. Colonists continued to increase in numbers until there were over 50 colonists at the scene and soldiers were sent to the Custom House to maintain the argument....
Words: 1531 - Pages: 7