The Boston Massacre was a confrontation on March 5, 1770, in Boston during the early American Revolution period. It involved British soldiers stationed in Boston who fired into a crowd of American colonists that had gathered to harass them. Tensions were already high due to British occupation and unpopular laws. The incident began when a British sentry was verbally abused and pelted with objects by a crowd estimated between 300 and 400 people. Captain Thomas Preston arrived with seven additional soldiers to support the sentry. The crowd continued to throw clubs, stones, and snowballs at the soldiers. Suddenly, one soldier fired a musket, causing the others to fire as well without orders. The gunfire instantly killed three people and wounded eight, two of whom later died. The dead included Crispus Attucks, who is remembered as the first casualty and a man of African and Indigenous descent, along with Samuel Gray and James Caldwell. Following the incident, the crowd dispersed but reformed the next day, causing the British troops to be withdrawn temporarily from the city center. The eight soldiers and one officer involved were arrested and charged with murder. They were defended by John Adams, who would become a future U.S. president. Six soldiers were acquitted, while two were convicted of manslaughter and punished by branding on the thumb. The event was widely publicized by colonial leaders like Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, who labeled it a massacre. It increased anti-British sentiment and helped galvanize the colonies towards revolution.
