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"The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street on March 5th, 1770 . . . ," engraved by Paul Revere, Boston, Massachusetts, 1770. From the collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
In the early evening of March 5, 1770, British soldiers guarding the Boston Customs House were surrounded by taunting Bostonians wielding sticks and clubs. After one of them was struck by a hard-packed snowball, the soldiers lost control and fired their weapons into the crowd. Five civilians were killed (Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, and Patrick Carr); three men died on the scene, and two died later as a result of their wounds. The five victims of the Boston Massacre were honored in prints and eulogies as martyrs to British tyranny.
“The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street . . .” reflects a patriot perspective on this important event in American history. However, much about the famous engraving’s interpretation is less than historically accurate. It depicts seven British soldiers instead of the actual eight, and does not show Crispus Attucks, the African American who was the first to be killed in the incident. The Boston Customs House directly behind the soldiers has been renamed “Butchers’ Hall.” The soldiers are shown lined up in military formation, but in reality the scene was a moment of confusion, high emotion, and disorganization. They also seem to be firing their weapons, apparently without provocation, into an orderly, unarmed crowd of citizens. The crowd that night was, in fact, quite vocal, unruly, and armed with sticks and other makeshift weapons. Finally, Captain Preston is shown raising his hand giving the command to fire, but he could not have done so, as he was standing in front of the guns, between his men and the crowd of protesters.
The details in Paul Revere's depiction of the Boston Massacre were intended to raise American colonists' fear and concerns. The image served as a very effective propaganda piece that helped turn colonists' opinions against the British and Parliament's policies in the American colonies.
This article was written by Margret Atkinson, elementary school teacher, Baton Rouge, LA; Bill Neer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Literacy, Lemoyne College, Syracuse, NY; and Jodi Norman, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
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