The Bloody Massacre

In the late 1760s, thousands of British soldiers came to Boston trying to implement a series of taxes on common products; like glass, lead, paper, and tea. These taxes were known as the Townshend Act and caused great tension between the British solidiers and the Colonists. The Colonist saw the taxes as abuse of power and a violation of their rights. To make matters worse, the British soldiers took jobs in the colonies to support themselves, which aggrivated many colonist who already highly disliked the British. [[This is only the beginning]]

[[John T. Smith]] The Working Colonist 16 years-old Known for being aggressive with British Soldiers </style> <img src=https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/1-american-colonist-granger.jpg> </div> [[Ellis Bates]] The British Soldier from the 49th Regiment Young new soldier in a unknown land </style> <img src=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/95/78/e3/9578e3f2b1a7ea39c3a00c975505a018.jpg> </div>

You just finished a long day of work. You are walking down the streets towards your house as the British soldiers monitor your every move. One comes up to question what you are doing out and you get into a small scuffle with him. After you are finished arguing with the soldier you continue your walk home. As you approch the Custom House you see a large mob of colonist outside. What do you do? [[Stay and ask around]] [[Leave and ignore the mob]]

You approach a fellow colonist in the crowd and ask what the all ruckus is about. He explains how the others are angered by the Townshend acts. They believe the Townshend acts have taken away thier individual rights and freedoms. The colonist are protesting against the acts and the British soliders have come to try and bring order to the situation. [[As the colonist further explains the situation you begin to feel anger rise insde of you and stay to protest with the others]] [[You are intrigued by the information but have too much to lose, so instead of participating you stand back and watch]]

As you continue walking home, you hear the mob louder and louder even though you're walking further away. As the noises and ruckus increase, you see Bristish soldiers sprinting towards the mob. [[Your interest is once again peaked and you turn around heading towards the mob]] [[After a long day at work, the last thing on your mind is to worry about other people's problems.]]

You are standing guard outside a shop. Suddenly you are called for back up to the Custom House. As you and other soldiers arrive you notice a large mob of colonist outside. As you approch the mob they become louder and quite more aggressive. [[You begin to panic]]

You are sent to the front line to face the colonist. You are cleary shaken up by the circumstances and it is evident to the colonist. They choose you as a target and begin to insult you and your country. What do you do? [[Insult the colonist back]] [[Stand back and not say anything]]

As you approach the mob, you notice the Colonist throwing snow, rocks, and other objects at the Bristish soldiers. [[Join the mob and charge the Lobster backs with rocks]] [[After a long day at work, the last thing on your mind is to worry about other people's problems.]]

You get home and begin to get comfortable not thinking about the loud mob. The next morning as you're walking to work, you see people whispering and mubbling so you decide to approach one of the men in a crowd and ask him what he is whispering about. He shows you the newspaper and in big letters you see [["THE BLOODY MASSACRE"]].

You begin to throw objects at the British soldiers and as you throw the snowball, you hit the British soldier and it knocks him down causing him to accidentally fire the first shot. [[Panic and Run]] [[Finish What You Started]]

As you begin to run, you hear more shots fire and from the corner of your eye you see a body fall cold to the floor. Once you get home, your heart is racing, you're sweating, and all you can think about are the bodies that never made it out. But yet you do not know the extent of [["THE BLOODY MASSACRE"]]

More soldiers begin to fire and you begin to see people scatter. [[Grab people and run]] [[Risk your life for others and dive in front of bullets]]

Earlier this year, on the evening of March 5th, a crowd gathered in front of the Customs House in a heated dispute between angered Bostonians and British soldiers. The dispute began when one drunken Bostonian approached a soldier standing guard to present his frustration over the recent Townshend Acts, and the two got in an argument which attracted a larger crowd. As the number of attendees passed fifty, more armed soldiers arrived at the scene to retain control over the situation. Objects were thrown at the soldiers, and as the event escalated, the attending Bostonians were daring the soldiers to fire, which triggered one person to throw a blunt object forward towards the British soldiers. The object, believed to be a large piece of ice covered in snow, hit one of the soldiers, causing him to fall to his knees. At this point, the soldier’s weapon accidentally fired into the crowd, killing one Bostonian. The shot caused massive disruption in the crowd, and the other soldiers now felt obligated to fire into the now furious crowd. This led to five deaths, three on spot and two by fatal injury. The crowd eventually dispersed as Governor Thomas Hutchinson arrived, and thirteen people were arrested following the events. Amongst the arrested were eight British soldiers, one captain, and four Bostonians, who were all put in jail awaiting trial. [[Credits]]

As you run around, you get multiple people out of the range of the guns but you get hit by a bullet. Sustaining a none life threating injury that leaves you with an impairment that constantly reminds you of the events that will be called the [["THE BLOODY MASSACRE"]]

As you dive in front of a woman, you feel pressure hit your chest and you quickly fall. You put your hands on the pressure and you feel your hands wet, only to see large amounts of blood on your hand. Seeing the blood made the once loud noises of the crowd dim and fade. You pay attention to your breathe and it becomes weaker and weaker with each pulse. As your life flashes before your eyes, you realize that your family will not know of these events until the annoucement of [["THE BLOODY MASSACRE"]].

The colonist mob becomes louder and louder, yelling how the Townshend acts have taken their freedom. Not long after, the Colonist begin to throw whatever they find and begin to throw snowballs and stones. You become anxious and nervous as to what is to come. You feel the tension rising. Tension becomes stronger and stronger and next thing you know, you hear a gun shot fired. [[You run and hide]] [[In panic, you dash home without stopping]]

When you begin to run you decide you want to see the rest of the events unfold. You quickly run into a side street nearby that keeps you protected but allows you to see the events. You are nowhere near prepared for the horiffic events you are about to witness. You hear more gun shots fired and screams get louder. Your heart beat gets quicker your breath shorter as you see friends and neighbors quickly fleeing the area. [[Unable to watch further you rush back home.->Panic and Run]] [[Frozen from fear unable to move you witness the rest of the events]]

Both mentally and physicaly exhausted, you have tears running down your face. Your heart pounding, your breathe heavy, and you do not know what is happening. The next thing you know, it's a new day and you have no idea of the horrific events that ocurred last night. Scared to find out the truth, you run hesistantly walk outside and pick up a newspaper just to see the headline in bold, reading, [["THE BLOODY MASSACRE"]].

You are stuck in the street the rest of the night shaking from fear. You have tears running down your face as you replay the horiffic events in your head later known as [["THE BLOODY MASSACRE"]] .

Filled with ranger you march to the front of the mob only to come face to face with the British soliders. You begin to yell insults back and forth with the soliders. As tensions drastically increase you pick up snow and throw it at a solider. That is when you see more soliders coming up to the mob. Angered by the fact that more solider arive you pick up a stone and throw it into the crowd of Red Coats. Next thing you know a solider stumbles to the ground and a gun shot is unintentionally fired. [[At this point your fate is sealed]]

You try to run but it was too late for you had started the horiffic events that lead you to your painful death. Before you can even turn around, you feel pressure hit your chest and you quickly fall. You put your hands on the pressure and you feel your hands wet, only to see large amounts of blood on your hand. Seeing the blood made the once loud noises of the crowd dim and fade. You pay attention to your breathe and it becomes weaker and weaker with each pulse. As your life flashes before your eyes, you realize that your family will not know of these events until the annoucement of [["THE BLOODY MASSACRE"]].

Choose your insult [[You wanker]] [[These colonies are filled with filthy drunk monkeys]]

You realize the tensions are getting high and slowly move yourself to the back of the group. All you can hear is the rowdiness of the colonist and become frustrated that the problem is not being solved. Out of nowhere you hear a gun fire and you immediately fire. [[You reload your gun and continue to fire]] [[You immediately realized what just occured and freeze up]]

Uneffected by your insult the colonist redirect their attention to a new source. You then realize that the insults are causing too much tension and this situation could soon go terribly wrong. You try to calm the other soldiers down but it was too late. One soldier is struck by an object and falls to the ground. As he stands up you hear a gun fire. [[You immediately react and fire your gun]] [[You wait for orders before making any decisions]]

So disgusted by your insult, the colonist begin to throw larger, harder objects towards you. You feel snow hit your coat a couples times and before you know it you are struck by a hard icy snowball that causes you to fall to your knees. You are dazed for a second and take time to regain your balance. As you get to your feet you feel your gun suddenly fire. [[Horror consumes you]]

You pick your head up in time to witness your bullet hit a colonist. Next thing you know more gun fire occurs. The whole event happens in a blur and suddenly you are being arrested. [[What's to come next for you?]]

During the string of events, three Bostonians were killed at the scene, and two more killed as a result of injuries sustained during the shooting. The victims of the shooting are as follows: Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr. In the immediate aftermath of these horrific events, British troops were removed from Boston. The trials, which started on November 27th of this year, ended earlier this week, on December 5th. The trials were not easily executed, as the court struggled to find a lawyer willing to represent the eight soldiers. However, the choice eventually fell on 35-year old John Adams, who assisted by Josiah Quincy agreed to defend the redcoats. In a statement, Adams said that he accepted the offer because of his strong belief in the right to a fair trial, and that he had strongly considered the danger he put himself and his family in before accepting. During the trial, one testimony arose from one of the victims: Patrick Carr. On his deathbed, Carr admitted that the soldiers had been strongly provoked, and had acted in self-defense. This statement, along with Adam’s defense, freed six of the soldiers; William Wemms, James Hartigan, William McCauley, Hugh White, William Warren, and John Carrol, of all charges on the basis that they had been in danger and acted in self-defense. The remaining two soldiers, Matthew Killroy and Hugh Montgomery, was freed of murder, but charged with manslaughter and branded with the letter “M”. [[Credits]]

Your bullet grazes a colonist who later dies from fatal injuries. The rest of the events go by in a blur. Next thing you know it is all over and you are being arrested. [[What's to come next for you?]]

As you wait for orders the Govrner arrives in the middle of the madness. As he approches, the situation begins to die down. You can feel the tension is still rising though. Suddenly soldiers are beig arrested and you feel your heart begin to pound hard in your chest. Lucky for you, you did not fire and avioded getting arrested. [[Months later]]

You are in the safety of your own home with your family when you discoverd the fate of your fellow soldiers when reading the [[news paper->What's to come next for you?]]. </style> <img src=https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/b8ff0bf8-3b84-4e12-b20e-ad6b7c4ee2af_1.ead90bfbccae42689639fa4d9f5106e1.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF> </div>

As you continue to fire you move closer to the mob of colonist only to see them scattering quickly. You are aimlessly firing and having real no purpose to why you are firing. [[Situation continues to escalate->You immediately react and fire your gun]]

Not long after you see the Govrner coming towards the chaos. You immediately panic and run away from the area. Not wanting to be caught at the sight, you do not stop running until you reach your house. You quickly take your gun off and hide in your house hoping no one saw you in that chaos. [[Months later]]

Primary Sources: Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bostonmassacre/anonyaccount.html Boston Massacre Historical Society, www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/d-bliss.htm. Boston Massacre Historical Society, www.bostonmassacre.net/trial/acct-preston1.htm. Eyewitnesses to the Boston Massacre - HistoryWiz Primary Sources, www.historywiz.com/primarysources/eyewit-boston.htm. “Boston Massacre.” Famous Trials, famous-trials.com/massacre. “Eyewitness Accounts of the Boston Massacre (1770).” American Revolution, 30 Sept. 2015, alphahistory.com/americanrevolution/eyewitness-accounts-boston-massacre-1770/. Linder, Doug. soldiers1, law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bostonmassacre/soldiersaccount.html. Linder, Doug. Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre of 1770, law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bostonmassacre/anonyaccount.html. “MHS Collections Online.” MHS Collections Online: Letter from Andrew Oliver, Jr. to Benjamin Lynde, 6-7 March 1770, www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=2714&img_step=1&pid=34&noalt=1&br=1&mode=dual#page1. “MHS Collections Online.” MHS Collections Online: Letter from Gregory Townsend to Jonathan Townsend, 15 March 1770, www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=2720&img_step=1&pid=34&noalt=1&br=1&mode=dual#page1. Secondary Sources: Boston Massacre Historical Society, www.bostonmassacre.net/players/index.htm. History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-massacre. Boston Massacre, www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/revolut/jb_revolut_boston_2.html. Boston Massacre Historical Society, www.bostonmassacre.net/alternative.htm. The Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770 in Documents, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56b253fd3c44d880b1061856/t/56be0c0e4c2f85965a603183/1455295502733/Boston+MassacreDocuments.pdf Hinderake, Eric. “American Heritage.” Rethinking the Boston Massacre, https://www.americanheritage.com/node/132758 History of the Boston Massacre, https://www.loc.gov/law/help/rare-books/pdf/john_adams_1870_history.pdf “The Boston Massacre.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/road-to-revolution/the-american-revolution/a/the-boston-massacre. “The Boston Massacre.” Coming of the American Revolution: Boston Massacre, www.masshist.org/revolution/massacre.php. “The Boston Massacre.” History of Massachusetts, 11 July 2018, historyofmassachusetts.org/the-boston-massacre/.