Boston Massacre Research Paper

Words: 755
Pages: 4

The Boston Massacre

Even though the Boston Massacre includes the name Massacre does not mean that it really is. The main purpose of the Boston Massacre was to try to make liberal and moderate people radicals (Boston Massacre historical society). The British soldiers were sent to the colonies to enforce the proclamation onto them (Boston Massacre historical society) The colonists are not pleased about this at all. The people of the colonies will not be satisfied until the troops are removed (Dicanio 40). The coming of the troops was awaited with apprehension (Kellogg 377). There were in total four regiments sent to the colony. The British citizens and colonists viewed the maintenance of a standing army in peacetime as an abomination
…show more content…
This turned the attention of more colonists and the crowd just got bigger. As the crowd started hearing shots they just thought that the soldiers were shooting powder not real bullets (Dicanio 41). According to an eyewitness shots were believed to have been fired around 9:30 P.M. (Olson 8). The colonists figured out differently when a sailor was shot in the head and killed. The crowd surged forward hoping that the shooting would halt (Dicanio 41). As members of the crowd surged forward to prevent the further firing of soldiers another sailor was killed by the name of James Caldwell. (Dicanio 41) Another man was hit in the chest by the name of Michael Johnson who was either African American or Native American (Dicanio 41). Two men died later of wounds summing up to 5 people dead in this so-called massacre. The youngest man shot was only 16 to 17 years old and his name was Sam Maverick (Winslow 7) . Captain Preston of the British army was enraged that his men had fired without orders from him and commanded the soldiers to stop. (Olson 8) The town committee met at once and demanded that the troops be removed from the colonies (Kellogg 378). The British officer in charge Captain Preston and eight other of his troops were arrested for manslaughter (Kellogg 378). Only two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter (Winslow 7). The soldiers were branded with an M for manslaughter and set free (Winslow