Editing Boston Massacre (section)

===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>