History Spotlight, 3/5

One of the events that served to turn the American colonies against the Crown, the Boston Massacre took place on this day in 1770. After the end of the French and Indian War (which was really between France and Britain - the Indians were just guns hired by the French) Britain raised taxes on the colonies to pay for it. These taxes were incredibly unpopular. Well, there's no such thing as a popular tax, but these were really unpopular.

Boston was the epicenter of colonial ire and British General Thomas Gage had a large number of troops set up shop in the city to preserve order. As many 20th Century military leaders could have told him, lots of under-supervised troops surrounded by unfriendly civilians is not a recipe for harmony. After the death of one civilian, Christopher Seider, on February 22, 1770, the Bostonian's mood shifted from "irked" and "annoyed" to downright "enraged." For their part the British troops weren't any happier with the situation. They had specific orders: "Do not provoke the colonials," and so the had to put up with being jeered at and pelted with refuse (and back then refuse wasn't just moldy oranges - dead cats and buckets full of human waste were not uncommon). In an atmosphere like this, the smallest spark was all that was required.

On the evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was standing guard duty outside the custom house. Edward Gerrish, a wigmaker's apprentice, was passing by and shouted out that White's commanding officer Captain John Goldfinch hadn't paid his wig bill. Yes, this is all about wigs. Goldfinch knew he had paid the bill and ignored him. Gerrish left, had a few drinks, and came back with some buddies and continued with the insults and a barrage of snowballs. Private White left his post (very bad, from a military discipline point of view) and clonked Gerrish on the side of the head with his musket. This only drew a larger crowd who grew more and more drunk and angry. Private White left his post (again!) for the safety of the customs house.

Watching from a nearby guard house, Captain Thomas Preston sent a corporal and several soldiers out to attempt to restore order. The soldiers were surrounded at that point by about 400 very angry civilians and began to form a cordon. Private Hugh Montgomery was thumped on the head with a makeshift club, and as he staggered back to his feet he fired his musket and yelled, "Damn you, fire!" The soldiers fired into the crowd and hit eleven people, killing five, including freed slave Crispus Attucks. In order to prevent full scale rioting from breaking out, General Gage had all troops withdrawn from the center of town to an island off shore. Captain Preston and four of his men who fired shots were brought up on murder charges, with several more to follow.