Boston Massacre was not a massacre but the killing in a street clash of several colonists by a squad of British soldiers. The incident took place on March 5, 1770. Speechmakers invented the name Boston Massacre and used it to rally the colonists against British policies. The massacre was one of the events that led to the Revolutionary War in America.
The assignment of British troops to Boston in 1768 had upset local citizens. A riot began when 50 to 60 people threatened a British sentinel. Captain Thomas Preston, a British officer, brought several soldiers to his assistance. By that time, the crowd had grown to about 400 people and was pressing close to the soldiers. The soldiers then fired into the crowd, killing three people and wounding eight others, two of whom died later.
The angry citizens of Boston demanded the removal of the British troops and the trial of Captain Preston and his men for murder. British authorities in Boston agreed to these demands. At Preston’s trial, John Adams and Josiah Quincy were counsel for the defense. It could not be proved that Preston ordered his troops to fire, and he was acquitted. Two of Preston’s soldiers were later found guilty of manslaughter. They were branded on their thumbs as punishment.
