The Boston Massacre

One of the major incidents that occurred during the American Revolution was the Boston Massacre. It was also called the "incident on King Street" by the British, it was the massacre of five colonial civilians and six injured civilians by British soldiers. The British soldiers responsible for this massacre were placed in Boston mainly to protect some British officials to enforce the Parliament's laws. The simple way of telling the what happened was that a group of soldiers fired at an angry mob formed by colonists. But it was not as simple as that.

It all began in the early 1700's when the British started enforcing laws, such as the Townshend act, and the King decided to send more redcoats for protection of the colonies. The soldiers knew the real reason was that the king wanted the colonists to obey. Soldiers were not happy in the New World, they were called "lobsterbacks" because of their redcoat uniforms, and also because they did not receive enough income from the British Government. The redcoats decided to work on the New World for a low wage so they could have some money. This are some of the reasons the tension between the soldiers and colonists formed and violence broke loose.

One night, a group of colonists got very drunk and they started to pelt a soldier with pieces of ice and snowballs. The soldier was later defended by a captain and ore soldiers, but the mob kept harassing them. Eventually one soldier felt so threatened he fired at the mob. More shots were fired afterwards and hence the massacre occurred. John Adams was able to defend the soldiers that were accused of manslaughter, except two who were punished by branding their thumbs which indicated they committed a crime. John Adams was then future president of the United States of America.