Boston Massacre

Boston Massacre (1770).The Boston Massacre, a pivotal event of the Revolutionary era, emerged from Britain's attempts to assert greater control over its North American colonies after the French and Indian War. When customs officials complained about abusive Bostonians, the British government assigned four regiments to garrison the town.

The troops' arrival in October 1768 heightened political conflict and exacerbated local economic pressures, as off‐duty soldiers competed for jobs on the docks; but the situation eventually stabilized sufficiently that two regiments could be withdrawn. Soldiers and civilians maintained a strained but generally peaceful relationship until 5 March 1770, when nervous redcoats fired into a crowd taunting them and throwing iceballs at them. Five townspeople died, instantly becoming martyrs to British “tyranny.” Even though Gen. Thomas Gage removed the troops from Boston and a local jury acquitted all but two redcoats involved, the consequences were significant.

The so‐called massacre embarrassed the British ministry and fed anti‐British sentiment in the American colonies. It also, more than any other event, galvanized a growing anti–standing army sentiment among Americans.
[See also Adams, John; Civil‐Military Relations: Civilian Control of the Military; Revolutionary War: Causes.]

Bibliography

John Shy , Toward Lexington: The Role of the British Army in the Coming of the American Revolution, 1965.
Hiller Zober , The Boston Massacre, 1970.

J. Mark Thompson