84-727: Captain Thomas Preston None The Boston Massacre (known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street ) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which nine British soldiers shot several of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. The event was heavily publicized as "a massacre" by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams . British troops had been stationed in
168-410: A bayonet, and with the other knocked the man down." However, two witnesses contradict this statement, testifying that Attucks was 12–15 feet (3.7–4.6 m) away from the soldiers when they began firing, too far away to take hold of a bayonet. Adams stated that it was Attucks' behavior that, "in all probability, the dreadful carnage of that night is chiefly to be ascribed." He argued that the soldiers had
252-402: A fair inquiry into the shootings if the crowd dispersed. Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and Preston and the eight soldiers were arrested by the next morning. Boston's selectmen then asked him to order the troops to move from the city out to Castle William on Castle Island , while colonists held a town meeting at Faneuil Hall to discuss the affair. The governor's council
336-678: A letter to the colonial governors in America instructing them to dissolve any colonial assemblies that responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also ordered Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter. The house refused to comply. Boston's chief customs officer Charles Paxton wrote to Hillsborough for military support because "the Government
420-499: A refit she returned to sea in 1779 as Sir John Ross's flagship, with Johnstone back as captain. She was involved in the operations in the Channel during the attempted Franco-Spanish invasion , after which she sailed to Lisbon . On 11 November 1779 she and HMS Tartar captured the 34-gun Spanish frigate Santa Margarita , which was subsequently taken into the navy as HMS Santa Margarita . With Johnstone's return to
504-482: A request to John Adams , pleading for him to work on the case. Adams was already a leading Patriot and was contemplating a run for public office, but he agreed to help in the interest of ensuring a fair trial. He was joined by Josiah Quincy II after Quincy was assured that the Sons of Liberty would not oppose his appointment, and by Loyalist Robert Auchmuty. They were assisted by Sampson Salter Blowers , whose chief duty
588-457: A set of people a mob, I can't conceive, unless the name is too respectable for them. The sun is not about to stand still or go out, nor the rivers to dry up because there was a mob in Boston on the 5th of March that attacked a party of soldiers." Adams also described the former slave Crispus Attucks , saying "his very look was enough to terrify any person" and that "with one hand [he] took hold of
672-682: A somewhat safer position on the steps of the Custom House, and he sought assistance. Runners alerted Captain Thomas Preston , the officer of the watch at the nearby barracks. According to his report, Preston dispatched a non-commissioned officer and six privates from the grenadier company of the 29th Regiment of Foot to relieve White with fixed bayonets. The soldiers were Corporal William Wemms and Privates Hugh Montgomery , John Carroll, William McCauley, William Warren, and Matthew Kilroy , accompanied by Preston. They pushed their way through
756-544: A squadron sent to North America under Samuel Hood . While serving off North America, Romney achieved a degree of notoriety after being sent to Boston Harbour to support the commissioners, who had asked Hood for help in enforcing the Townshend Acts . She arrived on 17 May 1768, but being short of men, Captain Corner began to impress seamen from the harbour. This was unpopular with the locals, who took to attacking
840-590: Is as much in the hands of the people as it was in the time of the Stamp Act ." Commodore Samuel Hood responded by sending the 50-gun warship HMS Romney , which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768. On June 10, 1768, customs officials seized Liberty , a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock , on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians were already angry because
924-593: Is shown ordering his men to fire, and a musket is seen shooting out of the window of the customs office, which is labeled "Butcher's Hall". Artist Christian Remick hand-colored some prints. Some copies of the print show a man with two chest wounds and a somewhat darker face, matching descriptions of Attucks; others show no black victim. The image was published in the Boston Gazette and circulated widely, and it became an effective anti-British editorial. The image of soldiers in red uniforms and wounded men with red blood
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#17327650196561008-471: Is true, but you will determine whether a man just stepping into eternity is not to be believed, especially in favor of a set of men by whom he had lost his life". Carr's testimony is one of the earliest recorded uses of the dying declaration exception to the inadmissibility of hearsay evidence in United States legal code. The four civilians were tried on December 13. The principal prosecution witness
1092-803: The Battle of Mykonos . In 1847 this action earned for the survivors the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Romney 17 June 1794". Command then passed to Captain Charles Hamilton . Henry Inman was briefly in command for her return to Britain in March 1795, whereupon Captain Frank Sotheron took over in June when Romney became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir James Wallace and returned to Newfoundland. The vessel spent
1176-730: The Battle of Porto Praya on 16 April 1781. The battle was inconclusive, but on 21 July the ship was part of Johnstone's squadron which succeeded in capturing several Dutch East Indiamen in Saldanha Bay . HMS Romney returned to Britain in November that year, at which point Captain Robert McDougall took command. By March 1783 she was sailing in the Western Approaches under Captain John Wickey and flying
1260-479: The Boston Custom House on King Street (today known as State Street). A wigmaker's apprentice, approximately 13 years old, named Edward Garrick called out to Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch, accusing him of refusing to pay a bill due to Garrick's master. Goldfinch had settled the account the previous day, and ignored the insult. Private White called out to Garrick that he should be more respectful of
1344-832: The Boston Massacre in 1770. In 1770 Romney was briefly under Captain Hyde Parker , followed by Captain Robert Linzee in October that year. She was paid off in March 1771 and repaired and refitted at Deptford between 1773 and 1775, recommissioning under Captain George Elphinstone in April and becoming the flagship of the commander of the Newfoundland station, Rear-Admiral Robert Duff . Duff
1428-789: The Boston Massacre Monument was erected on the Boston Common in memory of the men killed in the massacre, and the five victims were reinterred in a prominent grave in the Granary Burying Ground . The massacre is reenacted annually on March 5 under the auspices of the Bostonian Society . The Old State House, the massacre site, and the Granary Burying Ground are part of Boston's Freedom Trail , connecting sites important in
1512-733: The French there. On 14 June the transport Calcutta wrecked on the Egyptian coast in the Red Sea. She was carrying 331 men of the 80th Regiment of Foot and 79 native Indian followers. Romney arrived the next day, as did two transports. Only Romney was able to get her boats out but they were able to rescue and deliver to the shore all but seven men who had died in an early attempt to reach shore. Popham left HMS Duchess of York to salvage anything that could be salvaged and then sailed to Suez from whence he dispatched Wilhelmina to pick up
1596-500: The Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid tense relations between the civilians and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry and verbally abused him. He was eventually supported by seven additional soldiers, led by Captain Thomas Preston, who were hit by clubs, stones, and snowballs. Eventually, one soldier fired, prompting
1680-558: The Province of Massachusetts Bay , an important shipping town, and along with Philadelphia and present-day New York City , one of the most influential political, economic, and cultural cities in the Thirteen Colonies of pre-Revolutionary British America . Boston also was a center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament in the 1760s. In 1768, the Townshend Acts were enacted in
1764-673: The Red Sea to support the British forces working to expel the French from Egypt . Because Romney served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants. In 1802 Romney was in the Red Sea, supporting General Baird's expedition to Egypt to help General Ralph Abercromby expel
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#17327650196561848-557: The "foundation of American independence was laid" on March 5, 1770, and Samuel Adams and other Patriots used annual commemorations ( Massacre Day ) to encourage public sentiment toward independence. Christopher Monk was the boy who was wounded in the attack and died in 1780, and his memory was honored as a reminder of British hostility. Later events such as the Gaspee Affair and the Boston Tea Party further illustrated
1932-493: The 44-gun French Sibylle . Romney briefly returned to North America and then served in the Red Sea . Assigned to blockade the Dutch coast, Romney ran aground in November 1804 while sailing to join the fleet off Den Helder . She broke up after attempts to float her off failed. HMS Romney was built to a unique design by Sir Thomas Slade , which was based on William Bately's plans for HMS Warwick , but altered to make
2016-702: The Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of Standing Armies. The government was determined to give the soldiers a fair trial so that there could be no grounds for retaliation from the British and so that moderates would not be alienated from the Patriot cause. Several lawyers refused to defend Preston due to their Loyalist leanings, so he sent
2100-502: The British sailors. Colvill agreed and the Dutch rescued the remaining members of the crew. The total loss of life in the wreck was between nine and eleven men. The Dutch conveyed the British to shore, where Dutch Admiral Kirkhurt treated them well. Kirkhurt then sent Colvill and eight of his officers back to join Russell. As was standard practice, Colvill was subsequently tried by court martial aboard Africaine on 31 December for
2184-401: The French surrender. The French captain refused, whereupon Paget approached and the two exchanged broadsides for an hour and ten minutes. The French ship, which was discovered to be the 44-gun French frigate Sibylle , then struck her colours, having suffered casualties of 46 dead and 112 wounded, nine mortally. Romney had suffered casualties of eight dead and thirty wounded, two mortally in
2268-596: The Newfoundland station, often as the flagship of the commander-in-chief. The ship was involved in the tensions leading up to the American Revolution when she was sent to support the Boston commissioners enforcing the Townshend Acts in 1768. Her actions involved impressing local sailors, confiscating a vessel belonging to John Hancock and providing a refuge for the unpopular commissioners when rioting broke out. She remained in American waters for part of
2352-577: The Thirteen Colonies, placing tariffs on a variety of common items that were manufactured in Britain and imported in the colonies. Colonists objected that the Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, and constitutional rights of British subjects in the colonies. The Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Acts by sending a petition to King George III asking for
2436-433: The boat's crew. The other made for shore, hoping to summon assistance from the Dutch authorities. The following morning, and with Romney fast breaking up, Colvill supervised the construction and launching of a number of rafts. As the final raft was being launched, seven boats approached from shore. On reaching Romney , the Dutch commander of the boats called on Colvill to surrender, promising that he would endeavour to save
2520-777: The broad pendant of Captain John Elliot . Wickey was replaced by Captain Thomas Lewes in July 1782, who went on to capture the 12-gun privateer Comte de Bois-Goslin off Ushant on 17 October 1782. Romney ' s next commander was Captain Samuel Osborn, from January to April 1783, after which she was paid off. After a period spent in ordinary, she underwent a repair and refit at Woolwich , eventually recommissioning in March 1792 under Captain William Domett , as
2604-420: The captain of Romney had been impressing local sailors; they began to riot, and customs officials fled to Castle William for protection. Daniel Calfe declares, that on Saturday evening the 3rd of March, a camp-woman, wife to James McDeed, a grenadier of the 29th, came into his father's shop, and the people talking about the affrays at the ropewalks, and blaming the soldiers for the part they had acted in it,
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2688-463: The city's history. Thomas Preston (British Army officer) Captain Thomas Preston ( c. 1722— c. 1798 ) was a British military officer who served in Boston , Massachusetts . He commanded the troops involved in the Boston Massacre in 1770 and was tried for murder, but was acquitted. Historians have never settled whether he ordered his men to fire on the colonists. Preston
2772-526: The colonists planned the attack on the soldiers On March 27, the eight soldiers, Captain Preston, and four civilians were indicted for murder; the civilians were in the Customs House and were alleged to have fired shots. Bostonians continued to be hostile to the troops and their dependents. General Gage was convinced that the troops were doing more harm than good, so he ordered the 29th Regiment out of
2856-433: The crowd. Henry Knox took Preston by the coat and told him, "For God's sake, take care of your men. If they fire, you must die." Captain Preston responded "I am aware of it." When they reached Private White on the custom house stairs, the soldiers loaded their muskets and arrayed themselves in a semicircular formation. Preston shouted at the crowd, estimated between 300 and 400, to disperse. The crowd continued to press around
2940-416: The crowd. The jury's decisions suggest that they believed that the soldiers had felt threatened by the crowd but should have delayed firing. The convicted soldiers pled benefit of clergy , the right to a lesser sentence for a first offender. This reduced their punishment from a death sentence to branding of the thumb in open court. Patrick Carr's deathbed account of the event also played a role in exonerating
3024-485: The crumbling relationship between Britain and its colonies. Five years passed between the massacre and outright war, and Neil York suggests that there is only a tenuous connection between the two. It is widely perceived as a significant event leading to the violent rebellion that followed. Howard Zinn argues that Boston was full of "class anger". He reports that the Boston Gazette published in 1763 that "a few persons in power" were promoting political projects "for keeping
3108-581: The death sentence. Instead, they were branded on the thumb with a hot iron, the letter "M" for murder. Captain Preston was tried separately. The main issue was whether or not he had called the order to fire, he was found not guilty. After his trial, Preston retired from the army. He reportedly settled in Ireland. Adams later recalled seeing him in London in the 1780s, when Adams was serving there as US Minister to Britain. HMS Romney (1762) HMS Romney
3192-466: The eight defendants of murder charges. The testimony of John Jeffries is reprinted below: Q: Were you Patrick Carr's surgeon? A: I was. Q: Was he [Carr] apprehensive of his danger? A: He told me... he was a native of Ireland, that he had frequently seen mobs, and soldiers called upon to quell them... he had seen soldiers often fire on the people in Ireland, but had never seen them bear half so much before they fired in his life. Q: When had you
3276-554: The ensuing war, but towards the end operated in European waters after the French entry to the conflict. Romney was laid up in ordinary or under repair for most of the subsequent years of peace, but returned to active service on the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France. She was in the Mediterranean supporting Lord Hood's occupation of Toulon in 1793, and remained there for several years. During this time she captured
3360-506: The first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston on October 1, 1768. Two regiments were removed from Boston in 1769, but the 14th and the 29th Regiments of Foot remained. The Journal of Occurrences were an anonymous series of newspaper articles which chronicled the clashes between civilians and soldiers in Boston, feeding tensions with its sometimes exaggerated accounts, but those tensions rose markedly after Christopher Seider , "a young lad about eleven Years of Age",
3444-631: The flagship of Rear-Admiral Samuel Goodall . She served in the Mediterranean until the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars , recommissioning under Captain William Paget in March 1793, and returning to the Mediterranean to take part in the British occupation of Toulon . While sailing off Mykonos on 17 June 1794, Paget spotted a French frigate in the harbour with three merchantmen. Paget approached and demanded that
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3528-447: The immediate area of the custom house but continued to grow in nearby streets. Captain Preston immediately called out most of the 29th Regiment, which adopted defensive positions in front of the state house. Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson was summoned to the scene and was forced by the movement of the crowd into the council chamber of the state house. From its balcony, he was able to minimally restore order, promising that there would be
3612-538: The intention of causing harm. In the interest of minimizing impact on the jury pool, city leaders held back local distribution of the pamphlet, but they sent copies to other colonies and to London, where they knew that depositions were headed which Governor Hutchinson had collected. A second pamphlet entitled Additional Observations on the Short Narrative furthered the attack on crown officials by complaining that customs officials were abandoning their posts under
3696-413: The landlord of the house that it was to collect the mob. Mr. Gillespie upon this resolved to go home, and in his way met numbers of people who were running past him, of whom many were armed with clubs and sticks, and some with other weapons. At the same time a number of people passed by him with two fire-engines, as if there had been a fire in the town. But they were soon told that there was no fire, but that
3780-412: The last conversation with him? A: About four o'clock in the afternoon, preceding the night on which he died, and he then particularly said, he forgave the man whoever he was that shot him, he was satisfied he had no malice, but fired to defend himself. Justices Edmund Trowbridge and Peter Oliver instructed the jury, and Oliver specifically addressed Carr's testimony: "this Carr was not upon oath, it
3864-413: The legal right to fight back against the mob and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, they were at most guilty of manslaughter . The jury agreed with Adams' arguments and acquitted six of the soldiers after 2 1 ⁄ 2 hours of deliberation. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter because there was overwhelming evidence that they had fired directly into
3948-471: The massacre as part of an ongoing scheme to "quell a Spirit of Liberty", and harped on the negative consequences of quartering troops in the city. Henry Pelham was an engraver and half-brother of celebrated portrait painter John Singleton Copley , and he depicted the event in an engraving. Silversmith and engraver Paul Revere closely copied the image and is often credited as its originator. The engraving contained several inflammatory details. Captain Preston
4032-739: The most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches , anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right. This however is no Reason why the Town should not call
4116-550: The newspapers reported the cause of her having run ashore is said to have been for mistaking three Americans which were on shore for part of (her) fleet. She ran aground when her pilots lost their way in thick fog while sailing off the Haak bank the following day. Attempts to float her off failed. Realising that his ship was doomed, Colvill attempted to save his men and sent out two boats to seek help from nearby merchant vessels. One boat overturned while returning to Romney , drowning
4200-918: The next several years sailing to and from Newfoundland, under the command of Captain Percy Fraser from June 1797, and then Captain John Bligh from July 1797 when Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave took over the station. Captain John Lawford took command in March 1798, and in August the following year Romney was assigned to Vice-Admiral Andrew Mitchell's squadron in Den Helder during the Vlieter Incident . Captain Sir Home Popham took over in August 1800 and sailed Romney to
4284-408: The officer, and the two exchanged insults. Garrick then started poking Goldfinch in the chest with his finger; White left his post, challenged the boy, and struck him on the side of the head with his musket. Garrick cried out in pain, and his companion Bartholomew Broaders began to argue with White, which attracted a larger crowd. Henry Knox was a 19-year old bookseller who later served as a general in
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#17327650196564368-522: The others to fire without an order by Preston. The gunfire instantly killed three people and wounded eight others, two of whom later died of their wounds. The crowd eventually dispersed after acting governor Thomas Hutchinson promised an inquiry, but they reformed the next day, prompting the withdrawal of the troops to Castle Island . Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder, and they were defended in court by attorney, and future U.S. president, John Adams . Six of
4452-488: The people poor in order to make them humble." The massacre was remembered in 1858 in a celebration organized by William Cooper Nell , a black abolitionist who saw the death of Crispus Attucks as an opportunity to demonstrate the role of African Americans in the Revolutionary War . Artwork was produced commemorating the massacre, changing the color of a victim's skin to black to emphasize Attucks' death. In 1888,
4536-461: The people were going to fight the soldiers, upon which they immediately quitted the fire-engines, and swore they would go to their assistance. All this happened before the soldiers near the custom-house fired their muskets, which was not till half an hour after nine o'clock; and it [shows] that the inhabitants had formed, and were preparing to execute, a design of attacking the soldiers on that evening. —Excerpt from A Fair Account , suggesting that
4620-621: The post of commodore in December 1779, command passed to Captain Roddam Home, though Johnstone remained aboard. On 1 May 1780, Romney was involved in an incident with the cartel ship Sartine . Romney captured two French ships off Cape Finisterre in July, the 38-gun Artois on 1 July, and the 18-gun Perle five days later on 6 July. Johnstone sailed to the East Indies with a convoy in March 1781, and Romney saw action at
4704-443: The press gangs. Events escalated when the commissioners in the town ordered the seizure of the merchant vessel Liberty , which belonged to John Hancock . When sailors and marines from Romney attempted to seize the vessel, mobs attacked them and then turned on the commissioners. Many of the officials took refuge aboard Romney , before transferring to Castle William . These incidents heightened tensions that would eventually lead to
4788-403: The pretense that it was too dangerous for them to do their duties; one customs official had left Boston to carry Hutchinson's gathered depositions to London. Hutchinson's depositions were eventually published in a pamphlet entitled A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance in Boston , drawn mainly from the depositions of soldiers. Its account of affairs sought to blame Bostonians for denying
4872-504: The province in May. Governor Hutchinson took advantage of the on-going high tensions to orchestrate delays of the trials until later in the year. In the days and weeks following the incident, a propaganda battle was waged between Patriots and Loyalists in Boston . Both sides published pamphlets that told strikingly different stories, and which were principally published in London in a bid to influence opinion there. The Boston Gazette 's version of events, for example, characterized
4956-427: The repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. The House also sent the Massachusetts Circular Letter to other colonial assemblies, asking them to join the resistance movement, and called for a boycott of merchants importing the affected goods. Lord Hillsborough had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary , and he was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768, he sent
5040-465: The revolution; he came upon the scene and warned White that, "if he fired, he must die for it." As the evening progressed, the crowd around Private White grew larger and more boisterous. Church bells were rung, which usually signified a fire, bringing more people out. More than 50 Bostonians pressed around White, led by a mixed-race former slave named Crispus Attucks , throwing objects at the sentry and challenging him to fire his weapon. White had taken up
5124-489: The scene to help the other troops. Charges were brought against him and other soldiers, but he was acquitted in a trial held in Boston , Massachusetts . Future United States President John Adams was his attorney. An eyewitness report by John Tudor, who was a merchant, says that Preston gave the order to fire, but many historians believe that he did not. Two of his men, Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy , were found guilty of manslaughter . They " prayed clergy " to avoid
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#17327650196565208-409: The ship shorter. She was ordered from Woolwich Dockyard on 20 July 1759, and laid down there on 1 October 1759. Built by Master Shipwright Israel Pownoll, she was launched on 8 July 1762, and completed by Joseph Harris by 4 September 1762. She was given the name Romney in November 1760. HMS Romney was commissioned in August 1762 under her first commander, Captain Robert Walsingham , but
5292-426: The shooting and other lesser incidents that took place in the days before as unprovoked attacks on peaceful, law-abiding inhabitants and, according to historian Neal Langley York, was probably the most influential description of the event. The account which it provided was drawn from more than 90 depositions taken after the event, and it included accusations that the soldiers sent by Captain Preston had been deployed with
5376-401: The soldiers were acquitted; the other two were convicted of manslaughter and given reduced sentences. The two found guilty of manslaughter were sentenced to branding on their hand. Depictions, reports, and propaganda about the event heightened tensions throughout the Thirteen Colonies , notably the colored engraving produced by Paul Revere. In the 18th century, Boston was the capital of
5460-402: The soldiers, taunting them by yelling "Fire!", by spitting at them, and by throwing snowballs and other small objects. Innkeeper Richard Palmes was carrying a cudgel, and he came up to Preston and asked if the soldiers' weapons were loaded. Preston assured him that they were, but that they would not fire unless he ordered it; he later stated in his deposition that he was unlikely to do so, since he
5544-440: The streets in parties, to the number, as he thinks, of forty or fifty persons; and that while he was sitting with his friends there, several persons of his acquaintance came in to them at different times, and took notice of the numbers of persons they had seen in the street armed in the above manner [with clubs].… About half an hour after eight the bells rung, which [Gillespie] and his company took to be for fire; but they were told by
5628-417: The town. The first four victims were buried with ceremony on March 8 in the Granary Burying Ground , one of Boston 's oldest burial grounds. Patrick Carr, the fifth and final victim, died on March 14 and was buried with them on March 17. Mr. John Gillespie, in his deposition, (No. 104) declares that, as he was going to the south end of the town, to meet some friends at a public house, he met several people in
5712-417: The troops on the 15th and carry them back to India. After a refit at Chatham in 1803 Captain William Brown recommissioned her for operations on the African coast and in the West Indies. Captain John Colville replaced Brown in October 1804. On 18 November 1804 Romney sailed from Yarmouth to join the force under Rear-Admiral Russell blockading the Texel . A dispatch dated 28 November, printed in
5796-434: The troops' removal. Secretary of State Andrew Oliver reported that, had the troops not been removed, "they would probably be destroyed by the people—should it be called rebellion, should it incur the loss of our charter, or be the consequence what it would." The 14th was transferred to Castle Island without incident about a week later, with the 29th following shortly after, leaving the governor without effective means to police
5880-436: The validity of Parliamentary laws. It also blamed the city's citizens for the lawlessness preceding the event, and claimed that they set up an ambush of the soldiers. As it was not published until well after the first pamphlet had arrived in London, it had a much smaller impact on the public debate there. The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of
5964-494: The woman said, "the soldiers were in the right;" adding, "that before Tuesday or Wednesday night they would wet their swords or bayonets in New England people's blood." —Excerpt from A Short Narrative , suggesting that the soldiers were contemplating violence against the colonists Given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed General Thomas Gage , Commander-in-Chief, North America , to send "such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston", and
6048-827: Was a 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy . She served during the American War of Independence , and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned forty years. Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Romney . The origins of the name are from the town of New Romney, although it may be that the name entered the Royal Navy in honour of Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney. Launched in 1762, Romney spent most of her early career in North American waters, serving on
6132-435: Was a pause of uncertain length (eyewitness estimates ranged from several seconds to two minutes), after which the soldiers fired into the crowd. It was not a disciplined volley, since Preston gave no orders to fire; the soldiers fired a ragged series of shots which hit 11 men. Three Americans died instantly: rope maker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks. Samuel Maverick, a 17-year old apprentice ivory turner,
6216-403: Was a servant of one of the accused who made claims that were easily rebutted by defense witnesses. They were all acquitted, and the servant was eventually convicted of perjury, whipped, and banished from the province. The Boston Massacre is considered one of the most significant events that turned colonial sentiment against King George III and British Parliamentary authority. John Adams wrote that
6300-500: Was hung in farmhouses throughout New England. Anonymous pamphlets were published describing the event from significantly different perspectives. A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre was published under the auspices of the Boston town meeting, principally written by James Bowdoin , a member of the governor's council and a vocal opponent of British colonial policy, along with Samuel Pemberton and Joseph Warren. It described
6384-428: Was initially opposed to ordering the troop withdrawal, and Hutchinson explained he did not have the authority to order the troops to move. Lieutenant Colonel William Dalrymple was the commander of the troops, and he did not offer to move them. The town meeting became more restive when it learned of this; the council changed its position and unanimously ("under duress", according to Hutchinson's report) agreed to request
6468-484: Was killed by a customs employee on February 22, 1770. Seider's death was covered in the Boston Gazette , and his funeral was described as one of the largest of the time in Boston. The killing and subsequent media coverage inflamed tensions, with groups of colonists looking for soldiers to harass, and soldiers also looking for confrontation. On the evening of March 5, Private Hugh White stood on guard duty outside
6552-638: Was originally from Ireland ; his people were among the Protestants settled there. Preston was a captain of the 29th Regiment of Foot , part of the British garrison in Boston under the overall command of Thomas Gage . He was present at the Boston Massacre , also known as the Incident on King Street, when on 5 March 1770 a group of soldiers from the 29th fired on colonists of the city, after an aggressive mob had confronted them and thrown snowballs, clubs, and rocks at them. Captain Thomas Preston showed up on
6636-539: Was paid off by February the following year. When she recommissioned in June 1763, it was under the command of Captain James Ferguson. Romney became the flagship of the commander of the North American station, Rear-Admiral Lord Colvill , and served in this capacity for the next three years. After a brief refit at Portsmouth , Romney recommissioned in March 1767 under Captain John Corner, as part of
6720-419: Was standing in front of them. A thrown object then struck Private Montgomery, knocking him down and causing him to drop his musket. He recovered his weapon and angrily shouted "Damn you, fire!", then discharged it into the crowd although no command was given. Palmes swung his cudgel first at Montgomery, hitting his arm, and then at Preston. He narrowly missed Preston's head, striking him on the arm instead. There
6804-416: Was struck by a ricocheting musket ball at the back of the crowd and died early the next morning. Irish immigrant Patrick Carr was shot in the abdomen, an inevitably fatal wound at that time, and died two weeks later. Apprentice Christopher Monk was seriously wounded; he was crippled and died in 1780, purportedly due to the injuries that he had sustained in the attack a decade earlier. The crowd moved away from
6888-1002: Was succeeded by Vice-Admiral John Montagu the following year. Montagu retained Romney , by now under the command of Captain Elliott Salter, as his flagship. Salter was replaced by Captain George Montagu , the son of Vice-Admiral Montagu, in February 1777, who remained in command of the ship for the next two years. Captain George Johnstone took over in early 1779 and served in the English Channel . On Johnstone's advancement to commodore in April that year, Captain Robert Nicholas took over as Romney ' s commander, though she remained part of Johnstone's squadron and flew his broad pendant. After
6972-406: Was to investigate the jury pool, and by Paul Revere, who drew a detailed map of the bodies to be used in the trial. Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney Robert Treat Paine were hired by the town of Boston to handle the prosecution. The defense team believed it was advantageous for Preston and the enlisted men to be tried separately and obtained such a separation. Preston
7056-487: Was tried in late October 1770 and acquitted after the jury was convinced that he had not ordered the troops to fire. The trial of the eight other soldiers opened on November 27, 1770. Adams told the jury to look beyond the fact that the soldiers were British. He referred to the crowd that had provoked the soldiers as "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and molattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish Jack Tarrs" (sailors). He then stated, "And why we should scruple to call such
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