Intersection of Devonshire and State Street

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The Boston Massacre Site, part of the Boston National Historical Park, is located in front of the Old State House where a circle of cobblestones commemorate the evening of March 5, 1770 when tensions rose and violence ensued between the colonists and British soldiers.

In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the city of Boston was heavily occupied by British troops, which intensified the already existing anti-British sentiment among the colonists. It was only a matter of time before the presence of several thousand British soldiers and the growing animosity towards them would lead to a riot.

On the night of March 5, 1770 a dispute broke out between a British sentry guarding the city’s customhouse and a wigmaker’s young apprentice. The altercation attracted a crowd of men who began throwing snowballs and rocks at the British soldiers who had come to the aid of the guard. During the riot, someone shouted fire and the soldiers attacked killing five colonists and wounding six others.

Among those killed were colonist Samuel Gray, James Coldwell, and Crispus Attacks who became the Revolution’s first martyr and the most famous black man to fight for the patriot’s cause. Another colonist, seventeen year old Samuel Maverick was wounded and died the next morning.

Samuel Adams and other patriots dubbed the event a "massacre." After the riot, Boston citizens demanded Captain Preston and his soldiers be tried for the murders of their fellow colonists. Two of Boston’s radicals, lawyers John Adams and Josiah Quincy represented the British soldiers at trial.

Captain Preston was acquitted since no proof existed that he had ordered his troops to fire. Two of his soldiers were convicted of manslaughter and received a branding on the hand as their punishment. This light sentence and acquittal of the soldiers showed the fault lay more with the crowd than the British soldiers.

Paul Revere was one of three print engravers who capitalized on the incident by immediately producing and selling his color prints of "The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street." Revere’s engraving became a useful tool by the patriots to encourage anti-British sentiment among the colonists.

His print of the Boston Massacre depicts the red uniformed British soldiers standing in a row with rifles shooting straight into the crowd at daylight, with no snow on the ground, and Crispus Attacks as a white man lying on the ground close to the soldiers. What the picture lacked in accuracy it made up for in its influence over colonists in marketing the revolutionary cause of the patriots.

Many historians consider the Boston Massacre the turning point in America’s road to freedom.

Tours:

National Park Service Tour

90-minute tours from the Old South Meeting House to the Old North Church, including the Boston Massacre Site, available from mid April through November, weather permitting.

Call for daily schedule (617)-242-5642

For group reservations (617)-242-5689