The Boston Massacre was a fight that broke out in 1770 in Boston, Massachusetts that ended with British soldiers killing five American colonists. This was an important event in American history because it united the colonists against Britain, which would eventually lead to the Revolutionary War, which was the war that won America its independence from Britain.
What Caused the Boston Massacre?
You might be wondering why Britain and America were fighting. Well, back before the Revolutionary War, America was not an independent country. At the time, the 13 American colonies were ruled by Britain. At first, this arrangement worked out fine, but then Britain started asking the colonists to pay taxes. A tax is a sum of money citizens pay to the government in exchange for services, protection, and support.
Some taxes might have been okay with the American colonists, but when the British government passed a group of laws known as the Townshend Acts, the colonists felt like they were getting bullied by Britain. The Townshend Acts required the colonists to pay money to Britain when they bought things like paper, glass, and tea. Many of the colonists thought this tax was unfair, and tempers started to flair. British soldiers were sent to Boston to regain control, but this only added to the tension.
Eventually, some of the colonists reached their breaking point. On March 5th, 1770, a big group of colonists gathered and started to throw snowballs and other things at the British soldiers. The British soldiers reacted by firing into the crowd, killing five of the colonists.
The first person who was hit when the British soldiers began firing was an African American sailor named Crispus Attucks. Although not much is known about his past, it's likely that Attucks escaped slavery around 1750 and worked on whaling ships for the next 20 years. Of the five civilians who died in the Boston Massacre, Attucks is the only one who became widely known, and he became the first hero of the American Revolution.
Conflicts between the British and the colonists had been on the rise because the British government had been trying to increase control over the colonies and raise taxes at the same time. The event in Boston helped to unite the colonies against Britain. What started as a minor fight became a turning point in the beginnings of the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre helped spark the colonists' desire for American independence, while the dead rioters became martyrs for liberty.
At the midst of confrontation, the crowd of people in front of the Customs House was estimated to be between 300 and 400 men, making it hard to establish who did what. To add clarity we grouped participants by their roles, the British solders, the Agitators and the Victims.
Mr. Samuel Gray was a rope-maker, died on the spot. Was one of the hardiest brawlers in Boston. Samuel Gray was the first man fired upon in the Boston Massacre. He was mortally shot by Private Matthew Killroy after calling out “God damn you, don’t fire!” when the violence erupted.
The most commonly known fact about Gray is that he worked as rope maker and was a notorious street agitator. John C. Miller in his book about Sam Adams, mentions Gray as “one of the hardiest brawlers employed at Gray’s ropeworks in Boston”
He worked at a business called John Gray’s Ropeworks. It is unclear if he was related to the owner or just had the same last name. Just days before the Boston Massacre, rope-makers were involved in a series of fights with British regulars. On March 2nd, private Patrick Walker was beaten and cut during a fight that occurred while he was passing thought the ropewalk, supposedly unprovoked. Another account tells a different story about a series of fights between soldiers and workers when each side progressively brought in more backup. The fights started because locals were angry with the soldiers seeking employment at the rope works. British Army paid miserable salaries and it was a common practice for soldiers trying to make extra money on the side. Among those involved in the fights was Samuel Gray.
Mr. James Caldwell was only seventeen years old when he was killed during the Boston Massacre incident. By occupation Caldwell was a sailor on the brig called Hawk under the command of Capt. Thomas Morton. Between 1768 and 1770 the ship shuttled between the West Indies and Boston.
The West Indies trade was central to building the early wealth in colonial America. The system was called the Triangular Trade in which slaves in the West Indies made molasses that was shipped to Boston to be fermented into rum to be sold in England to pay to send more slaves to the West Indies. Boston actually remained a large rum producer until Prohibition. John Hancock was among those merchants who made a fortune importing molasses.During the killing, Caldwell was not the first man who was fired upon. He was killed after Samuel Gray by the subsequent gun fire, shot with the two balls entering his back.
Caldwell was not from Boston. While serving on the ship he had no home or family in town. We know this because after the Massacre his body just like Crispus Attuck’s was placed in Fanueil Hall instead of the family home.
The little information we know about Mr. Caldwell’s family comes the archives of the New York State assembly. The records reveal a person under the name Luther Caldwell who claimed that James Caldwell who died during the Boston Massacre was his ancestor. This account mentions that the family immigrated to America in 1634 and descended from Puritan ancestry.
Mr. Samuel Maverick was seventeen years old when he was killed in the Boston Massacre, the same age as another victim, James Caldwell. Unlike the mob that came that night to King Street to provoke a fight, Maverick happened to be in front of the Customs House almost accidentally.
The facts about his participation came to light during the Boston Massacre trial. One of the witness whose testimony was recorded during the trial was Jonathan Carrey, the father of one of Samuel’s friends. In court he was asked, “Did you know young Maverick, who was killed by the firing in King street, on the 5th of March? Yes very well. Did you see him that night? He was at my house that night at supper with some young lads, and when the bells rung, as we all thought for fire, he ran out in order to go to it.
According to the court papers, private Matthew Killroy was charged with the murder of Samuel Maverick who was mortally wounded in the shooting. A ball went through his belly and was cut out at his back. He died next morning.
In the History of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770 By Frederic Kidder and John Adams, Maverick was described as a promising youth of seventeen years of age, son of widow Maverick, and an apprentice to Mr. Isaac Greenwood, joiner (carpenter) in Boston. In other sources Greenwood’s occupation is described as dentist. Greenwood lived near Clark’s Wharf in what is now a North End neighborhood and was a customer at Paul Revere’s shop.
His master paid Maverick small wages for his work, but gave him meals and allowed him to live in his home, where he shared a bedroom with his son John. The two teenagers became fast friends. In 1770, Maverick, dined at the home of some teenaged friends, the Carrey's. Later that night they heard the street bells and then went out, thinking it was a fire. He and John’s older brother Isaac approached troops gathered on King Street near the customs House shortly after 9pm. But were separated. Maverick worked his way toward the front of the crowd that was harassing British soldiers. Residents shouted at the troop, some screaming “kill them!”
At the height of the dispute, when the frightened soldiers raised their muskets to threaten the crowd, Maverick shouted, “Fire away, you damned lobsterbacks!”. They did. The musket fire killed Maverick and four others and sent fifteen-year-old Greenwood spiraling into a deep depression over the loss of his close friend in what was quickly called the Boston Massacre by the press. Greenwood wrote in his journal “After his death, I used to go to bed in the dark on purpose to see his spirit, for I was so fond of him and he of me”. John Greenwood later became one of the youngest enlisted men in the Continental Army. Samuel Maverick was buried from his mother’s house on Union Street. In the present day his name is commemorated by Maverick Square in Boston.
Mr. Patrick Carr was a leather worker. Carr was also an Irish immigrant died two weeks later. Patrick Carr deserves a special place among the victims of the Boston Massacre. He was the last, 5th victim of the Boston Massacre. Mortally wounded, he died nine days later on March 14th. During these days he managed to talk about what happened on King street that night. And not in the way patriots like Samuel Adams expected him to.
After arriving from Ireland, Carr worked in Boston in a leather business and was thirty years old in 1770 when the Boston Massacre occurred. On the night of the shooting, just like Samuel Maverick he heard the sound of the bell on the street and decided to go outside. But unlike Maverick who thought it was a fire, Carr who was familiar with soldiers and street mobs probably knew that the trouble had something to do with the British – his neighbor persuaded him to leave behind a small cutlass before he headed to King Street. When the shooting erupted, he was wounded while crossing the street with his friend Charles Connor a shipmaster.
For Carr, shot through his abdomen, death was inevitable. He was carried to his master’s house and was tended by Doctor Jeffries. It took him four days to die, but he refused to lay the blame for his agonizing death upon the soldiers. According to the Doctor’s testimony during the trial, Carr told him that he thought that the soldiers would have fired long before. Were the soldiers greatly abused? Yes, they were. Would they have been hurt if they had not fire? Yes. So they fired in self-defense? Yes, and he did not blame whoever it was hit him. In Ireland he had seen mobs and soldiers called out to quell them, but ‘he had never in his life seen them bear half so much before they fired’. And he had malice toward no one.
For this his honesty, the dying man was denounced by Samuel Adams who clearly was not happy about the missed opportunity to use Carr for further stirring up anti-British sentiment among Bostonians.
On March 17, 1770 Patrick Carr was buried at the Boston Granary burial ground, together with the other victims. Some historic sources speculate that he was buried on a different day because of being the only Catholic among the victims. This speculation is likely unsubstantiated and the different burial date probably has something to do with Carr passing several days after the other victims.
Christopher Monk who should be rightfully considered the sixth victim of the Massacre. When it comes to accounting for the number of death that occurred as the result of the Boston Massacre, almost every historic source states that there were only 5 victims. This representation may not be fair to one person named Christopher Monk who should be rightfully considered the sixth victim of the Massacre.
From the five most commonly listed victims, the three unfortunates souls died on the spot. They were Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, and James Caldwell. The two others died shortly thereafter. They were Samuel Maverick who died the next morning and Patrick Carr who died two weeks later.
The next person to die from the wounds was Christopher Monk, a shipwright’s apprentice who was only 17 years of age at the time when the incident occurred. The fact that Christopher did not die shortly after the shooting for some reason prompted historians to exclude him from the list of victims. In fact he died almost exactly 10 years after he was wounded, passing away on April 20, 1780.
The main argument for including Christopher Monk as the victim is that his injury was extremely severe that it without doubt caused his disability and early death. According to the account in Boston Gazette, the bullet wounded him by entering just above his groin and coming out of the hip on the opposite side. The citizens of Boston believed that his days were numbered. To prove the point, Henry Pelham engraving of the Boston Massacre, that later became the prototype for the more famous versions by Paul Revere listed Mr. Monk as being “mortally wounded”.
Even during the hardships of difficult economic situation caused by the Britains’ taxation of American colonies, Bostonians did not abandon the victim and year after year collected substantial amounts donations to support Monk’s through his disability.
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