The Boston Massacre is one of those historical events that will forever be embedded in local lore, woven seamlessly into the fabric of Boston’s culture. But it also played a crucial role in the formation of our entire country, helping to stir revolutionary sentiments in New England that resonated down the East Coast.
Exactly 244-years ago, British soldiers fired openly into a crowd that had gathered on what’s now Devonshire Street in front of the Old State House. Five people died and another six were injured. It was this demonstration and loss of life, wrote John Adams, where the “foundation of American independence was laid.”
But while we aptly recognize the contribution the event had in American liberty, let’s be frank for just one second. The aftermath of the Boston Massacre was arguably one of Boston’s most unabashed, hyperbolized propaganda ploys in its long, celebrated history. Lucky for us, it worked out in the end. So to help you celebrate and honor those whose lives were unrightfully taken, here are some fun facts you may not have known about the Boston Massacre.
1. It wasn’t really a massacre.
The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a massacre as “the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.”
I agree that the killing of any people, let alone the five that perished during the Massacre, is cruel and an atrocity, but the crowd which berated the British soldiers were hardly helpless or unresisting.
As one account of the event goes, “Bostonian Archibald Gould was afraid to go home because he saw so many people ‘walking from all Quarters with sticks,’ not ordinary canes but ‘Cudgells’ and branches of hedge. The people carrying them were ‘in such Commotion as I hardly ever saw in my life.'”
2. The British were severely outnumbered.
The British, who were stationed in front of the custom house, numbered just a dozen at most while the angry mob of Bostonians grew to between 50 or 60. They then proceeded to throw rocks, shells and their clubs at the British, hitting plenty. It was Private Hugh Montgomery, however, that took one to the head leading to his discharging his rifle . It was only after 11 shots were fired and the crowd stood stunned that Captain Preston, in charge of the British unit, was able to summon the rest of his 29th Regiment to help take up defensive positions.
3. A young Henry Knox was present.
Henry Know, you may recall, was one of George Washington’s most trusted generals. He hauled cannons from Fort Ticonderoga over the Berkshires to help evacuate the British stronghold at Boston Harbor from atop Dorchester Heights, and served as the first Secretary of War in Washington’s presidential administration. Or, you might know him better as the namesake of Fort Knox in Kentucky.
But Knox was a native Bostonian, bookseller and spectator to the entire unfolding of the Boston Massacre. In fact, it was Knox who supposedly warned British sentry Hugh White that if he were to fire into the crowd, he would surely die for it. He went on to warn Captain Preston the same thing, though no British soldier involved would end up meeting that fate.
4. The British were defended by John Adams.
At this point in his life, John Adams was an established Boston lawyer who held political office at the most local level. But as he was in the beginning stages of adopting revolutionary sentiments, he felt that any and every free person in America deserved a fair trial by a jury of his peers.
When no Boston lawyer would take up the defense of the British, it was Adams who agreed to do so on the grounds of liberty for all. During this court case he conveyed his famous “Facts are stubborn things” line in hopes of convincing the jury not to twist the facts of the event to suit their distaste of British rule. He succeed and the British officers were acquitted. He then became a champion of independence and the second President of the United States.
5. The aftermath was a major propaganda ploy.
The above rendering, an engraving by the hands of Paul Revere, is the most infamous recollection of the Massacre. Because it wasn’t even a true massacre and the British shots were by accident, much of Revere’s printing is inaccurate. A member of the rebellious Sons of Liberty organization with mentor Samuel Adams, Revere’s exaggerated account of the incident shows almost as many British soldiers as Bostonians and Captain Preston ordering them to fire. If you look closely, there’s even a rifle being shot out of the window of the custom house.
Though not entirely truthful, Revere’s engraving helped to inspire a demonstrative culture throughout New England and fuel the inevitability of the Revolution. The original engraving is available for viewing at the Massachusetts Archives in South Boston.
