Editing Boston Massacre (section)

===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>