Feelings against the British troops stationed in Boston ran high in 1770. That many of the soldiers were moonlighting as dock workers and rope makers made them especially unpopular among those whose jobs they were taking. On March 5, 1770, dockworkers, sailors, and others armed with rocks and clubs began harassing two soldiers on guard duty at the Customs House. The situation became uglier when more troops were called to assist the guards. The hard-pressed soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five men. Eyewitnesses confirmed that the first person killed was Crispus Attucks, a man of mixed race—African and Nipmuc Indian—who was among those urging the crowd to stand fast. Boston silversmith Paul Revere turned this tragic event into propaganda gold. A member of the Boston Sons of Liberty and a master publicist, Revere’s widely distributed engraving depicting British soldiers firing into an unarmed, peaceful crowd of Bostonians roused American outrage throughout the colonies. Annual commemorations and the widely-circulated print kept the event fresh in people’s minds. Although the engraving named Attucks among those killed, Revere did not depict him as a man of color.
Revere, Paul. [Engraving “The Bloody Massacre perpetrated on King Street, Boston on March 5th, 1770”.] 1770. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/crr-b-28/. Accessed on November 21, 2024.
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