Editing Boston Massacre (section)

==Aftermath==

===Investigation===
Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and Preston and the eight soldiers were arrested by the next morning.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 205.</ref> Boston's selectmen then asked him to order the troops to move from the city out to Castle William on [[Castle Island (Massachusetts)|Castle Island]],<ref name=Bailyn158/> while colonists held a town meeting at [[Faneuil Hall]] to discuss the affair. The governor's council was initially opposed to ordering the troop withdrawal, and Hutchinson explained he did not have the authority to ''order'' the troops to move. Lieutenant Colonel [[William Dalrymple (British Army officer)|William Dalrymple]] was the commander of the troops, and he did not offer to move them.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 63.</ref> The town meeting became more restive when it learned of this; the council changed its position and unanimously ("under duress", according to Hutchinson's report) agreed to request the troops' removal.<ref name=Bailyn159>Bailyn, ''Ordeal'', p. 159.</ref> Secretary of State [[Andrew Oliver]] reported that, had the troops not been removed, "they would probably be destroyed by the people—should it be called rebellion, should it incur the loss of our charter, or be the consequence what it would."<ref name=Bailyn161>Bailyn, ''Ordeal'', p. 161.</ref> The 14th was transferred to Castle Island without incident about a week later, with the 29th following shortly after,<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 64.</ref> leaving the governor without effective means to police the town.<ref name=Bailyn161/> The first four victims were buried with ceremony on March 8 in the [[Granary Burying Ground]], one of [[Boston]]'s oldest burial grounds. Patrick Carr, the fifth and final victim, died on March 14 and was buried with them on March 17.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 66.</ref>

{{quote box|width=35%|align=right|quote=Mr. John Gillespie, in his deposition, (No. 104) declares that, as he was going to the south end of the town, to meet some friends at a public house, he met several people in the streets in parties, to the number, as he thinks, of forty or fifty persons; and that while he was sitting with his friends there, several persons of his acquaintance came in to them at different times, and took notice of the numbers of persons they had seen in the street armed in the above manner [with clubs].… About half an hour after eight the bells rung, which [Gillespie] and his company took to be for fire; but they were told by the landlord of the house that it was to collect the mob. Mr. Gillespie upon this resolved to go home, and in his way met numbers of people who were running past him, of whom many were armed with clubs and sticks, and some with other weapons. At the same time a number of people passed by him with two fire-engines, as if there had been a fire in the town. But they were soon told that there was no fire, but that the people were going to fight the soldiers, upon which they immediately quitted the fire-engines, and swore they would go to their assistance. All this happened before the soldiers near the custom-house fired their muskets, which was not till half an hour after nine o'clock; and it [shows] that the inhabitants had formed, and were preparing to execute, a design of attacking the soldiers on that evening.|source=—Excerpt from ''A Fair Account'', suggesting that the colonists planned the attack on the soldiers<ref>''A Fair Account'', pp. 14–15</ref>}}

On March 27, the eight soldiers, Captain Preston, and four civilians were indicted for murder; the civilians were in the Customs House and were alleged to have fired shots.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", pp. 59–60.</ref> Bostonians continued to be hostile to the troops and their dependents. General Gage was convinced that the troops were doing more harm than good, so he ordered the 29th Regiment out of the province in May.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 228.</ref> Governor Hutchinson took advantage of the on-going high tensions to orchestrate delays of the trials until later in the year.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 229.</ref>

===Media battle===
[[File:The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or The Bloody Massacre by Henry Pelham.jpg|thumb|[[Henry Pelham (engraver)|Henry Pelham]]'s engraving that served as the basis for [[Paul Revere]]'s engraving, ''The Bloody Massacre'', depicting the Boston Massacre]]
In the days and weeks following the incident, a propaganda battle was waged between [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] and [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] in [[Boston]]. Both sides published pamphlets that told strikingly different stories, and which were principally published in [[London]] in a bid to influence opinion there. The ''Boston Gazette''{{'s}} version of events, for example, characterized the massacre as part of an ongoing scheme to "quell a Spirit of Liberty", and harped on the negative consequences of quartering troops in the city.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 68.</ref>

[[Henry Pelham (engraver)|Henry Pelham]] was an engraver and half-brother of celebrated portrait painter [[John Singleton Copley]], and he depicted the event in an engraving. Silversmith and engraver [[Paul Revere]] closely copied the image and is often credited as its originator. The engraving contained several inflammatory details. Captain Preston is shown ordering his men to fire, and a musket is seen shooting out of the window of the customs office, which is labeled "Butcher's Hall".<ref>Triber, ''A True Republican'', p. 80.</ref> Artist Christian Remick hand-colored some prints.<ref name="ReferenceA">Fischer, ''Paul Revere's Ride'', 24.</ref> Some copies of the print show a man with two chest wounds and a somewhat darker face, matching descriptions of Attucks; others show no black victim. The image was published in the ''Boston Gazette'' and circulated widely, and it became an effective anti-British editorial. The image of soldiers in red uniforms and wounded men with red blood was hung in farmhouses throughout New England.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ross|first=Jane|title=Paul Revere – Patriot Engraver|journal=Early American Life|pages=34–37|date=April 1975}}</ref>

Anonymous pamphlets were published describing the event from significantly different perspectives. ''A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre'' was published under the auspices of the Boston town meeting, principally written by [[James Bowdoin]], a member of the governor's council and a vocal opponent of British colonial policy, along with Samuel Pemberton and Joseph Warren.<ref>Walett, pp. 330–333.</ref> It described the shooting and other lesser incidents that took place in the days before as unprovoked attacks on peaceful, law-abiding inhabitants and, according to historian Neal Langley York, was probably the most influential description of the event.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 70.</ref> The account which it provided was drawn from more than 90 depositions taken after the event, and it included accusations that the soldiers sent by Captain Preston had been deployed with the intention of causing harm.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 72.</ref> In the interest of minimizing impact on the jury pool, city leaders held back local distribution of the pamphlet, but they sent copies to other colonies and to London, where they knew that depositions were headed which Governor Hutchinson had collected.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", pp. 73–74.</ref> A second pamphlet entitled ''Additional Observations'' on the ''Short Narrative'' furthered the attack on crown officials by complaining that customs officials were abandoning their posts under the pretense that it was too dangerous for them to do their duties; one customs official had left Boston to carry Hutchinson's gathered depositions to London.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 77.</ref>

Hutchinson's depositions were eventually published in a pamphlet entitled ''A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance in Boston'',<ref name="York74"/> drawn mainly from the depositions of soldiers. Its account of affairs sought to blame Bostonians for denying the validity of Parliamentary laws. It also blamed the city's citizens for the lawlessness preceding the event, and claimed that they set up an ambush of the soldiers.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 75.</ref> As it was not published until well after the first pamphlet had arrived in London, it had a much smaller impact on the public debate there.<ref name="York74">York, "Rival Truths", p. 74.</ref>

===Trials===
[[File:John Adams (1766).jpg|thumb|[[John Adams]] defended the soldiers, six of whom were acquitted.]]
[[File:Boston_Massacre,_Boston_Gazette_newspaper_clipping,_1770-03-12.png|thumb|The March 12, 1770 newspaper report in the ''Boston Gazette'', four days after the funeral; the illustration of the coffins depicts the initials of the four victims buried that day.]]
{{Blockquote| text=The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the [[Boston martyrs|Quakers]] or [[Salem witch trials|Witches]], anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right.

This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of Standing Armies.
|source=[[John Adams]], on the third anniversary of the massacre<ref>Adams and Butterfield, ''Diary'', p. 79.</ref>}}

The government was determined to give the soldiers a fair trial so that there could be no grounds for retaliation from the British and so that moderates would not be alienated from the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] cause. Several lawyers refused to defend Preston due to their [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] leanings,{{non sequitur|date=March 2024 |reason=see talk Lawyers }} so he sent a request to [[John Adams]], pleading for him to work on the case. Adams was already a leading Patriot and was contemplating a run for public office, but  he agreed to help in the interest of ensuring a fair trial.<ref name=Z220>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 220.</ref> He was joined by [[Josiah Quincy II]] after Quincy was assured that the [[Sons of Liberty]] would not oppose his appointment, and by Loyalist Robert Auchmuty.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', pp. 220–221.</ref> They were assisted by [[Sampson Salter Blowers]], whose chief duty was to investigate the jury pool, and by Paul Revere, who drew a detailed map of the bodies to be used in the trial.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 268.</ref><ref>Cumming, ''The Fate of a Nation'', p. 24.</ref> Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney [[Robert Treat Paine]] were hired by the town of Boston to handle the prosecution.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 81.</ref> The defense team believed it was advantageous for Preston and the enlisted men to be tried separately and obtained such a separation. Preston was tried in late October 1770 and acquitted after the jury was convinced that he had not ordered the troops to fire.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', pp. 243–265.</ref>

The trial of the eight other soldiers opened on November 27, 1770.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 269.</ref> Adams told the jury to look beyond the fact that the soldiers were British. He referred to the crowd that had provoked the soldiers as "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and molattoes, Irish [[Taig|teagues]] and outlandish Jack Tarrs" (sailors).<ref>Zinn, ''A People's History of the United States'', p. 67.</ref> He then stated, "And why we should scruple to call such a set of people a mob, I can't conceive, unless the name is too respectable for them. The sun is not about to stand still or go out, nor the rivers to dry up because there was a mob in Boston on the 5th of March that attacked a party of soldiers."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://theamericanscholar.org/black-lives-and-the-boston-massacre/|title=Black Lives and the Boston Massacre|date=2018-12-03|website=The American Scholar|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref>

Adams also described the former slave [[Crispus Attucks]], saying "his very look was enough to terrify any person" and that "with one hand [he] took hold of a bayonet, and with the other knocked the man down."<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Harvey, Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMWSDwAAQBAJ&q=had+hardiness+enough+to+fall+in+upon+them,+and+with+one+hand+took+hold+of+a+bayonet,+and+with+the+other+knocked+the+man+down.&pg=PT130|title="A few bloody noses" : the realities and mythologies of the American Revolution|date=2003|publisher=Overlook Press|isbn=1-58567-414-1|oclc=54927034}}</ref> However, two witnesses contradict this statement, testifying that Attucks was {{convert|12|–|15|ft}} away from the soldiers when they began firing, too far away to take hold of a bayonet.<ref name=":0" /> Adams stated that it was Attucks's behavior that, "in all probability, the dreadful carnage of that night is chiefly to be ascribed."<ref name=":1" /> He argued that the soldiers had the legal right to fight back against the mob and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, they were at most guilty of [[manslaughter]].<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 291.</ref>

The jury agreed with Adams's arguments and acquitted six of the soldiers after 2{{frac|1|2}} hours of deliberation. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter because there was overwhelming evidence that they had fired directly into the crowd. The jury's decisions suggest that they believed that the soldiers had felt threatened by the crowd but should have delayed firing.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', p. 294.</ref> The convicted soldiers pled [[benefit of clergy]], the right to a lesser sentence for a first offender. This reduced their punishment from a death sentence to branding of the thumb in open court.<ref>Zobel, ''Boston Massacre'', pp. 285–286, 298.</ref>

Patrick Carr's deathbed account of the event also played a role in exonerating the eight defendants of murder charges. The testimony of [[John Jeffries]] is reprinted below:

{{poemquote|Q:  Were you Patrick Carr's surgeon?
A:  I was.
Q:  Was he [Carr] apprehensive of his danger?
A:  He told me... he was a native of Ireland, that he had frequently seen mobs, and soldiers called upon to quell them... he had seen soldiers often fire on the people in Ireland, but had never seen them bear half so much before they fired in his life.
Q:  When had you the last conversation with him?
A:  About four o'clock in the afternoon, preceding the night on which he died, and he then particularly said, he forgave the man whoever he was that shot him, he was satisfied he had no malice, but fired to defend himself.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/trial-summary4.htm|title=Boston Massacre Historical Society|website=www.bostonmassacre.net|access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref>}}

Justices [[Edmund Trowbridge]] and [[Peter Oliver (loyalist)|Peter Oliver]] instructed the jury, and Oliver specifically addressed Carr's testimony: "this Carr was not upon oath, it is true, but you will determine whether a man just stepping into eternity is not to be believed, especially in favor of a set of men by whom he had lost his life". Carr's testimony is one of the earliest recorded uses of the [[dying declaration]] exception to the inadmissibility of hearsay evidence in United States legal code.<ref>Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Bristol. [https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ma-supreme-judicial-court/1169261.html ''Commonweslth v. Ralph Nesbitt''.] (SJC 9824) 452 Mass. 236 (2008)</ref>

The four civilians were tried on December 13.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 84.</ref> The principal prosecution witness was a servant of one of the accused who made claims that were easily rebutted by defense witnesses. They were all acquitted, and the servant was eventually convicted of perjury, whipped, and banished from the province.<ref>York, "Rival Truths", p. 85.</ref>