Boston Massacre, 1770
Paul Revere, "The Bloody Massacre in King-Street, March 5, 1770," Boston, 1770 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)
In 1768, British soldiers were sent to Boston to stop the riots resulting from the Townshend Acts. Eventually 2,000 soldiers occupied Boston, a city with a population of about 16,000. Fist fights and angry confrontations occurred frequently. A violent clash on March 5, 1770, began when Private White struck Edward Garrick with his musket for insulting White’s commanding officer. White was soon surrounded by an angry mob of Bostonians who hurled taunts and snowballs at him. The situation escalated, and the British troops fired into the crowd. Three colonists, including fugitive slave Crispus Attucks, were killed immediately, and two others died later of their wounds.
Paul Revere’s Bloody Massacre Print
Mandy Gonzalez explains the propaganda techniques used in this famous primary source.
