The Boston Massacre was an event, which led to the death of five colonists after British soldiers when ordered to fire upon them on March 5th, 1770. Much controversy surrounds the incident, as there seems to be a few different stories of what truly happened. Regardless, many people believe the Boston Massacre was the spark that ignited the Revolutionary War. My efforts will be focused on figuring our what really happened, and what events caused the British officers to shoot into the crowd of colonists. The incident took place on King Street (which is now called State Street today), on an early morning on the 5th of March in front of the British Sentry called Private Hugh White. Edward Gerrish, an apprentice of a wigmakers, began yelling at a British officer, lieutenant John Goldfinch for an unpaid bill. Gerrish left, but eventually came back hours later and began throwing rocks at the lieutenant. Soon, many colonists joined in and threw rocks themselves. At this point, Goldfinch had reached his boiling point, and challenged Gerrish before striking him with his musket. As the evening progressed, the crowd outside the sentry grew larger and larger and continued to harass the British officers. Meanwhile, Captain Thomas Preston overlooked the entire situation as it escalated. He immediately ordered 8 soldiers to help control the situation before it got out of hand. As the soldiers approached, with muskets loaded, the crowd of nearly 400 began to surround the outnumbered officers. The angry crowd began throwing snowballs at the officers and one local tavern owner struck one of the soldiers to the ground with a club, knocking him down. As he got up, he fired his musket. Captain Thomas Preston is often accused of ordering his officers to fire, but he was standing in front of his officers, leaving him directly in the line of fire. The colonists were said to have been taunting the officers, yelling “Fire!” After a few moments, the soldiers began firing into the crowd, leaving 5 dead and six wounded. The officers were later arrested for murder but Captain Thomas Preston was not convicted, as there was not enough evidence to prove he ordered his soldiers to fire. Under close examination of the incident, it is easy to see why there were many different testimonies as to what really happened on March 5th, 1770. First off, the colonialists’ were biased because they disliked the British before the incident occurred. Secondly, they whole scene was somewhat chaotic, which makes people think irrationally. Lastly, the crowd was chanting “fire!”, which may have confused some people into thinking it was indeed Captain Thomas Preston that ordered the firing. After reading numerous testimonies, I do not believe Caption Thomas Preston ordered the shots. Personally, I believe the officer that was struck with the club fired on his own, then the other soldiers either fired on their own or they heard the crowd chanting “Fire!” and fired for themselves. I believe the Boston massacre was blown out of proportion, which ultimately led to the start of the Revolutionary War. The colonialists wanted a reason to rid themselves completely from the British. However, I think the Revolutionary War would have happened eventually regardless of how the Boston Massacre turned out.