Step 4

The Boston Massacre (Redcoats/British Soldier Account)
The Boston Massacre was a tragic event in the history of the colonies. What could have been a
minor arrest turned into the death of several young men.
It began when a young barber’s apprentice, Edward Garrick, shouted an insult at Hugh White, a
British soldier. Edward threatened the soldier and acted like he was going to punch him. When Edward
got too close to Mr. White, the soldier hit the boy on the ear with the end of his rifle. The teenager yelled
for help, insulted the soldier again, and ran off. As he was running, he yelled for other colonists to come
help him fight the soldier. He came back with a large and angry crowd, mostly teenagers. Edward
pointed at Hugh White and yelled, “There’s the guy who knocked me down!”
Nearby, at a church, someone started ringing the bells. One of Edward’s friends was trying to
excite a crowd and start a fight. More people came out into the street. Some had clubs, others had sticks
and rocks. They were ready for a fight.
The British soldier quickly saw that he was surrounded by an angry mob of people. He called for
help, and six other soldiers came to his side. Soon, their leader, Captain John Preston, came. The
soldiers’ guns were unloaded, but their bayonets were attached to their guns. They didn’t want to kill
anyone, but they had to protect themselves.
Meanwhile, the crowd was now over 400 men. They started throwing rocks, snowballs, and ice
chunks at the group of seven soldiers. An African-American named Crispus Attucks led the mob, and
they kept coming closer to the soldiers. They insulted the soldiers and threatened them. The soldiers had
a hard time seeing what was going on, because so many things were being thrown at them, and the snow
in their faces kept them from looking at the teenagers.
The soldiers loaded their guns to try to make the crowd go away. They wanted to warn the
teenagers first. Instead, the mob started yelling, “Come on, you rascals, you lobster scoundrels! Fire if
you dare! We know you won’t!” The crowd started saying bad words at the soldiers and threatening
them.
Some of the teenagers had clubs and cutlasses, and they started swinging them at the soldiers.
One of the teenagers threw a club at a soldier, knocking him down. The soldier got back up, and started
to fire at the crowd. Even though the captain didn’t give orders, other soldiers started firing too. They
were trying to protect their lives, and they were outnumbered 400 to 7. In the end, they killed three men
and wounded two others who died later on. The mob finally ran away. Luckily, none of the soldiers were
killed, although many were bruised and hurt from the teenagers. As the gunsmoke cleared, Crispus
Attucks and four others were dead or dying. Six more men were wounded, but they survived.

Boston Massacre (Patriot Account/Colonist Account)

The Boston Massacre was a tragic event in the history of the colonies. Later on, Americans
would see how it was the start of the American Revolution. It was a sign that British did not like the
colonists, and did not treat them fairly.
It started when a teenager named Edward Garrick was walking with three of his friends. They
came to a house where a soldier was carrying a huge sword. The soldier was sticking the sword out at
people, and another mean-looking man had a large club and was standing with him. Edward told one of
his friends, Merchant, to take care of his sword. The soldier hit Edward, and then pushed Merchant and
cut him with his sword. Merchant hit the soldier with a tiny stick. The soldier’s friend ran back into the
house and brought out two other soldiers, one with a pair of tongs, and the other with a giant shovel. The
soldier with the tongs chased Edward through an alley and started beating him with the tongs.
Soon, all the noise made people come out to see what was happening. A young boy named John
Hicks knocked the soldier down, but helped him get back up. Other boys came out and they chased all
the soldiers back to the house, where they surrounded them. In less than a minute, ten or twelve soldiers
came out of the house with cutlasses, clubs, and bayonets. The unarmed boys stood there for a while, but
since they didn’t have any weapons, they ran away.
Meanwhile, a man named Samuel Atwood had heard all the noise, and he came out of his work
building to see what was the matter. He met the soldiers and asked them if they were going to murder
people. “Yes, we sure will!” they said. One of the soldiers hit Mr. Atwood with a club. Another soldier
hit him, and Samuel tried to run away. As he was running, another soldier cut him all the way to his
shoulder bone!
At this point, the soldiers started attacking unarmed people left and right. Thirty or forty boys
started gathering in the streets to protect each other. The captain of the soldiers, Captain John Preston,
cried, “Make way!” All the soldiers started running with their bayonets out. Many of the boys got out of
the way, but many others got poked by the bayonets’ sharp points. Some of the teenagers started
throwing snowballs at the soldiers to keep themselves from getting stabbed.
When the Captain saw this, he told his soldiers to fire at the boys. Only one soldier fired, but a
brave colonist took a club and hit him on the hands so hard, that he dropped his gun. The other soldiers
started shooting at the boys. When the smoke cleared, the soldiers found three men dead and two others
struggling for life. Some of the boys tried to pull their dead friends away, but the British soldiers kept
shooting at them! In the end, five men died and six others were wounded. It was a sad example of
pointless violence.


How the Boston Massacre began depends on the source you hear it from?
The colonist's account of how it happened was very different than the British Soldiers/Loyalist.  How do you think it went down...who do you agree with more and why?