...The Boston massacre had a major role in the America’s fight for freedom. Over the years some people think the Boston Massacre was not the worst event that occurred in the American Revolution, but it still had a role in in starting the war. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770 between a “patriot” mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. A squad of British soldiers, came to support a sentry who was being pressed by a heckling crowd, let loose a volley shots. The massacre was named as one of the first battles of the Revolutionary war. It happened because protests did not want British troops in their city, which were sent to enforce the unpopular taxation laws. The soldiers raised their weapons and the protests responded by throwing snowballs, and other objects until something hit a soldier causing him to fire his weapon out into the crowd. Despite the fact that the Boston Massacre pushed us closer to war....
Words: 304 - Pages: 2
...The Boston “Bloody” Massacre took place on the streets of Boston on March 5, 1770. An angry mob started throwing snowballs at senator or collecting taxes. As the mob started to get violent an army of redcoats come to help break up the fight. The overall fight started when the king that was over 3,000 miles away sent over 2,000 troops over for a town of 16,000 people. The redcoats aim their weapons, but are told not to fire, the mob keeps coming at them. They are throwing snowballs and not giving up the fight. Soon the redcoats shoot, the first person to fall was a black sailor named Crispus Attucks who was in the front of the mob. Soon the word of the massacre spread all throughout Boston. Paul Revere, a man who worked for the newspaper, took...
Words: 258 - Pages: 2
...and spread wide over Boston. On the day of the funeral all shops and stores were closed due to the incident that occurred. Thousands of people gathered to remember the five that died. The colonies became a nation working, thinking, and grieving together. It was a crucial step forward for the peoples of the colonies as they began to wonder whether they were truly subjects of such a cruel nation, subjects of their own nation. There were lots and lots of newspapers and articles published each of them were about the soldiers involved in crisis...
Words: 930 - Pages: 4
...Along with being called the boston massacre it was also called the state street massacre because the monstrosity was started on the streets of boston. Soon after the troops were sent to the colonies the colonist have had it, they were tired of being bossed . The colonists were so aggravated with the situation that on March 5, 1770 school boys threw snowballs and started calling guard's names in Customs house in Boston some say the boston massacre was only an accident because only five people died in it. British troops in the Massachusetts Colony were there to stop demonstrations against the Townshend Acts and keep things in the order they should be in, but instead they cause an enormous outrage. This all started with people getting tired of the stamp acts, they could not take it anymore. The night of the boston massacre was a very brutal night, not many people died but many were hurt. There was a crowd of three to four hundred people. The crowd was constantly throwing snowballs, shouting “FIRE!, FIRE!”, and spitting at the soldiers in the red coats or so they called the “lobster backs”. Preston yelled at the large sized crowd and told them to disperse, they did not listen and continued to do what they were before. Although the...
Words: 622 - Pages: 3
...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
...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
...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
...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
...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
...As tensions between the New England colonists and the British rumors of violent protests spread rampant. As the tension increased the Boston massacre occurred, becoming one of the many catalysts that started the American Revolution. As a result of the French and Indian war, the British economy began to decline. In an attempt to remedy this economic downfall, the English parliament implemented the stamp tax laws onto the American colonies. This tax was short lived; however, in its place came the Townshend acts which placed several more taxes on “previously untaxed items”. These unwanted taxes brought into question “the legitimacy of Parliament’s power to tax the colonies” as a source to pay for British debt. This outrage moved the House of Representatives to denounce the Townshend act and publically support the resistance of British taxes. The many taxes also angered the colonists due to their inability to adequately affect any of parliament’s decisions. As a colony under the British Empire, the New English colonies could send their representatives to England to make negotiations with parliament. However,...
Words: 629 - Pages: 3
...1The Boston Massacre: Provoked Self Defense or Justified Riot Met with Bloodshed Trista Lee Rawlings School of Criminal Justice, Liberty University HIUS221-C03 – Survey of American History Professor Kevin Wolfe March 25, 2024 2 The Boston Massacre: Provoked Self Defense or Justified Riot Met with Bloodshed Introduction The details surrounding the Boston Massacre and what led to it, which occurred on March 5, 1770, seem to be a hotly debated topic in our American history. One thing is for sure, five colonists lost their lives that night, forever altering the lives of those that knew and loved them. During this time frame, according to Mr. Peter Brodkin, there was plenty of evidence to back up the notion that tension was growing in Boston due...
Words: 917 - Pages: 4
...The Boston Massacre took place on the evening of March 5, 1770. It was a cold, snowy Monday night. There was a foot of snow on the ground. The sun had already set, and the moon was out. The massacre was a result of the stamp act, and other acts that brought on tension between Great Britain and the colonists. It is said that the massacre took a few days to happen. The second provocation documented that led to the massacre occurred on February 29, 1770. There were a few provocations that had led up right before a massacre was finally declared. According to Samuel Drowne, he saw about fourteen or fifteen soldiers of the 29th regiment coming from Murray’s barracks armed with weapons around nine at night. He saw them march on to King street...
Words: 312 - Pages: 2
...As time progressed in colonial Boston, disputes between colonists and English sympathizers and soldiers began to become more and more common as more taxes were placed on those in the colonies. Some of these were rather violent. For example, in February of 1770, an angry crowd approached a British informer at his home and began to raid and destroy it. The incident resulted in the death of a young boy and a city drawn together in their distaste for the English. Not even a month later on March 5th, the conflict later known as the Boston Massacre took place. Like the death of the boy in February, this conflict became a rally for change in the eyes of the colonialists. But, there is conflict as to what happened that night due to accounts of what happened varying between colonists and British, and even between colonists themselves. What is known for sure is that on the evening of March 5th, a group of Bostonian boys began to throw snowballs at a sentry on duty. A small crowd began to support the boys and taunt the sentry, leading him to call for help. From there, the events drastically escalated to the point...
Words: 1163 - Pages: 5
...Colin Tierney Prof. Eric Kim University Writing 24 March 2015 The Boston Massacre On the third Monday of every April, tens of thousands of runners line up on Main Street in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to embark on the experience of a lifetime. A challenge that symbolizes not only self-accomplishment, but the even greater achievement of the “American Dream.” Following the path taken by the patriots during the battle of Lexington and Concord, the runners of the Boston Marathon march sneaker over sneaker towards freedom and accomplishment. On Patriots Day each year, these athletes and spectators alike, are equal, supporting each other in the great race. The Boston Marathon specifically, is a task that should not be taken lightly. It is America’s...
Words: 1916 - Pages: 8
...On the day of March 5, 1770, The Boston Massacre took place. This should not have been labeled as a “massacre”. A massacre is the killing of defenseless people. Nothing but a small riot happened and both sides, the people and the british soldiers had weapons. The people were throwing snowballs with rocks inside and clubs at the british soldiers. This fatal accident happened when the people starting brewing trouble in Boston. The bostonians thought that the Boston Patriots were the worst, most dreadful , unpleasant people in the colonies. A noisy mob of citizens were throwing rocks and ice at the soldiers that were guarding the Boston Customs House. They were daring the soldiers to fire and picking on the soldiers about their uniforms, calling them “lobsterbacks”. The mod dared them to fire while the commander of the soldiers commanded they go home and that their pleas had no effect. The soldiers were forbidden to fire on the citizens. Someone in the mob had fired, knocking a soldier to the...
Words: 448 - Pages: 2