Boston’s Freedom Trail

One of our favorite Sons of Liberty

The initials on the coffins are those of massacre victims: Samuel Gray Samuel Maverick James Caldwell Crispus Attucks They are missing Patrick Carr (he died after this newspaper was printed) (Library of Congress, American Memory Collection)

The site of the BOSTON MASSACRE

Paul Revere’s Engraving of the Boston Massacre

What REALLY Happened? The “Massacre” of March 5, 1770 began as a quarrel between a whig-makers apprentice (Edward Garrick) and a British Officer (Captain John Goldfinch). Garrick accussed Goldfinch of not paying his master’s bill (for the wig). A British soldier (Hugh White) got in on the discussion and said that Goldfinch was a good man/gentleman and he would pay for it. Garrick responded that there were no good men left in his regiment White got angry with this statement and struck the young apprentice with the butt of his rifle in his ear Garrick howled for help and returned with a large and unruly crowd

What Really Happened II Someone rang the bells of a nearby church drawing MORE people to the scene --------- White called for backup and was joined by his Captain Thomas Preston Crowd swelled (Accounts say 40-60, some say 400…) Chunks of snow, ice, sticks, rocks, oyster shells were flung at the soldiers Taunting by calling the British “Lobsters” and other derogatory names The unruly colonists continued to get closer to the British soldiers…They antagonized the British by saying things like “Come on you rascals, you bloody backs, you lobster scoundrels, fire if you dare…”

{Courtesy of University of Kansas Law School } Soon, after a confusion of snowballs, ice chunks, and coal rained down on the British soldiers, someone shouted "fire" and five Americans were fatally wounded.  Trial testimony never definitively answered the question of who shouted "fire" and who fired the fatal shots.  In 1949, however, with the long-delayed publication of notes of Thomas Hutchinson, it was revealed that Montgomery admitted to his lawyers that it was he who started the Boston Massacre.  Hit in the chest and knocked to the ground by a club wielded by one of the rioters, Montgomery responded, he said,  by shouting "Damn you, fire!"  Montgomery fired first, then the other soldiers followed. {Courtesy of University of Kansas Law School }

Aftermath When all was said and done: -Crispus Attucks (Native American and African descent) -Samuel Gray -James Caldwell -Samuel Maverick -Patrick Carr **Were dead.

Boston Massacre Aftermath John Adams defended British soldiers on trial for the massacre (One trial for Captain Preston – October 1770. Another trial for soldiers- December 1770) Preston and 6 of the British soldiers were declared innocent 2 of the British soldiers were declared guilty of manslaughter; Branded on their thumbs Discharged from military service The massacre served as ‘anti-British’ propaganda  Fear struck in the hearts of the colonists

Facts about the Boston Tea Party It occurred between 7 and 10 pm 90,000 POUNDS of tea in 342 containers were thrown overboard Each container had a weight of up to 400 pounds ONE MILLION DOLLARS worth of tea was estimated to have been destroyed The ships were named the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver It happened at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston which no longer exists due to landfills that occurred in the 19th century George Hewes; a Boston shoemaker recalls the event: “We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard…In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found on the ship, while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time”- George Hewes

The End!