An Incident in Boston
March 5, 1770
Question for the jury:
“Were the British soldiers guilty of murder,
or were they innocent, acting in
self-defense?”
Juror Deliberation Worksheet
Instructions:
Use the information and evidence contained in packets 1-5 to complete each of the following tasks as you work towards developing your verdict for this case.
A Note to all jurors:
A juror has the important duty of learning the facts of a case and then using those facts to decide on the case being tried. Therefore, it is important that each juror, in order to reach a proper decision, fully and clearly understands the facts.
This means that it is important for you to ask, as you learn about this case, for clarification on specific vocabulary, statements, or events you do not clearly understand.
Packet #1
An Incident in Boston on March 5, 1770
Background Briefing: What we know about what happened.
Before the incident 600 British soldiers had occupied Boston as a police force for two years. They were there to enforce British and tax and custom law that had been resisted by some Boston residents, often violently. The soldiers were not welcome by the townspeople of Boston and hostility had been growing between civilians and soldiers.
On March 5, 1770 a crowd of about 400 colonists (all men accept for one woman) confronted a squad of eight British soldiers. The crowd threw snow balls and other objects at the soldiers, many of the men in the crowd carried clubs. The eight soldiers loaded their muskets and formed a single line facing the crowd.
Their commander, Captain Thomas Preston, stood in front of his soldiers and asked the crowd to go home. But the crowd, far from drawing back, came close, calling out, "Come on you rascals, you bloody backs, you lobster scoundrels, fire if you dare, God damn you, fire and be damned, we know you dare not," and striking at the soldiers with clubs and a cutlass.
Someone yelled “Fire!” and shots rang out. The soldiers and the crowd battled briefly. As a result of this incident five Bostonians would die – three that night (Samuel Gray, Crispus Attucks, and James Caldwell) and two within a few days (Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr). Six other Bostonians were injured. Captain Preston and eight soldiers were arrested for murder.
Preparations for the trial began almost immediately. Witnesses were summoned to appear before the justices and give statements about what they saw, and the British military collected witness statements as well. A Boston lawyer, John Adams, was asked to represent Captain Preston. Adams took the case because he believed the defendant was entitled to a lawyer. He also agreed to defend the eight soldiers. The trials took place October 24-30 and November 27-December 5, 1770.
Additionally, may people rushed to publish either in newspapers, letters, or illustrations their version of what happened that night. Colonists called this incident the “Boston Massacre,” but there was great controversy about who was to blame for what happened that night. The controversies lasted for many years after this incident.
Sources:
• Source Citation: "The Boston Massacre Trials (1754-1783)." American Eras. 8 vols. Gale • Research, 1997-1998. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC
• Boston Massacre Historical Society, http://bostonmassacre.net
• “The Boston Massacre Files,” The Boston Society, http://bostonhistory.org/bostonmassacre
Juror Task #1:
Read the information contained in packet #1
(“A Background Briefing – What we know about what happened?”)
and complete the following activities:
1. Read through the background briefing and provide a brief summary – no more than 35 words – of what happened in Boston on March 5, 1770.
2. What was the immediate result of this event?
3. Reread the 1st four (4) paragraphs and complete the activity on the next page. In the empty box on the next page, use information from the Background Briefing to draw a picture of what happened that night in Boston.
Consider the following information when drawing the picture.
1. How many colonists were there?
2. What were the colonists doing?
3. How many soldiers were there?
4. What were the soldiers doing?
5. Where was the Captain Preston located? Place him in the illustration and identify which person is Preston.
6. Who were the dead and injured? Place and name them in the illustration.
7. After you have completed your illustration give it a title that tells what is going on in the drawing.
OUSD 8th Grade History Pre-Assessment
Title:
Use this space for your illustration.Artwork by: ______
OUSD 8th Grade United States History, Pre-Assessment
Packet #2
“An Incident in Boston on March 5, 1770
Account and Reporting of What Happened
Juror Task #2:
Read the two (2) documents that report what happened during the incident. Search for answers to questions about each document
Before you read the two documents in Packet 2, answer these questions.
1. When was each Document (A and B) written? How long after the actual incident was each written?
Document A______
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Document B ______
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2. Before you read the document look for the author or source.
Who is the author or source or Document A?______
Predict who you think the author of Document A will blame for the incident.______
Who is the author or source or Document B?______
Predict who you think the author of Document B will blame for the incident.______
Document A - Captain Thomas Preston's Account of the Boston Massacre (13 March 1770), from British Public Records Office.
On Monday night, about 8 o'clock, two soldiers were attacked and beaten. About 9:00, some of the guards came and informed me the town inhabitants were assembling to attack the troops. They immediately surrounded the sentry posted there, and with clubs and other weapons, threatened him. I was soon informed by a townsman that their intention was to carry off the soldier from his post and probably murder him. This I feared might be a prelude to their looting the king's storehouse.
The mob still increased and were more outrageous, striking their clubs or bludgeons one against another, and calling out, “Come on you rascals, you bloody backs, you lobster scoundrels, fire if you dare, G-d damn you, fire and be damned, we know you dare not!”
Much more such language was used. At this time I was between the soldiers and the mob trying to persuade them to retire peaceably, but to no purpose. They advanced to the points of the bayonets, struck some of them and even the muzzles of the pieces.
Some well behaved persons asked me if the guns were charged. I replied, “Yes.” They then asked me if I intended to order the men to fire. I answered, “No, by no means.”
While I was speaking, one of the soldiers received a severe blow with a stick, stepped a little on one side and instantly fired. I was turning to and asking him why he fired without orders, when I was struck with a club on my arm, which for some time deprived me of the use of it. If it had been placed on my head, the blow most probably would have destroyed me.
Then a general attack was made on my men by a great number of heavy clubs and snowballs being thrown at them. All our lives were in imminent danger, some persons at the same time from behind calling out, “Damn your bloods-why don't you fire?!”
Instantly three or four of the soldiers fired, one after another, and then three more fired in the same confusion and hurry. The mob then ran away, except three unhappy men who instantly expired (died). One was Mr. Gray at whose rope factory where prior quarrels took place; one more is since dead, three others are dangerously wounded, and four slightly wounded. The whole of this melancholy affair was transacted in almost 20 minutes. On my asking the soldiers why they fired without orders, they said they heard the word “fire” and supposed it came from me. This might be the case as many of the mob called out,” Fire, fire,” but I assured the men that I gave no such order; that my words were, “Don't fire, stop your firing.”
In short, it was scarcely possible for the soldiers to know who said fire, or don't fire, or stop your firing.
END OF DOCUMENT A
Close Reading
3. According to Document A what happened in Boston on March 5, 1770?
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4. According to Document A, who was to blame for the incident?
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Document B – A Newspaper Account
Thirty or forty persons, mostly lads, gathered in King Street. Capt. Preston with a party of men with charged bayonets, came from the main guard to the commissioner's house, the soldiers pushing their bayonets, crying, “Make way!”
They stood by the custom house and, continuing to push people away, pricked some in several places. The people were shouting and, it is said, threw snow balls. Then, the Captain commanded the soldiers to fire; and with more snow balls coming, he again said, “Damn you, fire, be the consequence what it will!”
One soldier then fired, and a townsman with a cudgel (stick) struck him over the hands with such force that he dropped his firelock; and, rushing forward, the townsman aimed a blow at the Captain's head which grazed his hat and fell pretty heavy upon his arm. However, the soldiers continued the fire successively till seven or eight or, as some say, eleven guns were discharged.
By this fatal maneuver three men laid dead on the spot and two more were struggling for life; but what showed a degree of cruelty unknown to British troops, was an attempt to fire upon or push with their bayonets the persons who tried to remove the slain and wounded!
The dead are Mr. Samuel Gray, killed on the spot, the ball entering his head and beating off a large portion of his skull.
A mulatto man named Crispus Attucks, who was born in Framingham, but lately belonged to New-Providence and was here in order to go for North Carolina, was also killed instantly by two balls entering his breast, one of them goring the right lobe of the lungs and a great part of the liver most horribly.
Mr. James Caldwell, mate of Capt. Morton's ship, was killed by two balls entering his back.
Mr. Samuel Maverick, a promising youth of seventeen years of age, son of the widow Maverick, and an apprentice to Mr. Greenwood, ivory-turner, was mortally wounded; a ball went through his belly and was cut out at his back. He died the next morning.
A lad named Christopher Monk, about seventeen years of age, an apprentice to Mr. Walker, shipwright, was wounded; a ball entered his back about four inches above the left kidney near the spine and was cut out of the breast on the same side. It is apprehended [believed] he will die. A lad named John Clark, about seventeen years of age, whose parents live at Medford, and an apprentice to Capt. Samuel Howard of this town, was wounded; a ball entered just above his groin and came out at his hip on the opposite side. It is apprehended he will die.
END OF DOCUMENT B
Close Reading
5. According to Document B what happened in Boston on March 5, 1770?
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6. According to Document B, who was to blame for the incident?
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Analysis
When we read differing accounts of the same incident we must ask ourselves, “which account is most believable?” Using a 1 – 5 scale with 1 being “totally unbelievable” and 5 being “totally believable” - how would you rate the believability of each account?
7. Circle the number you decide is most accurate and explain.
Document A:
Why? Explain your rating.
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8. Circle the number you decide is most accurate and explain.
Document B:
Why? Explain your rating.
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Packet #3
An Incident in Boston – March 5, 1770
Illustrations
Illustration 1: Three weeks after the incident the silversmith and patriot Paul Revere produced and distributed this engraving. Although he knew people who were eyewitnesses he probably was not there himself. It became the official patriot version of the incident.
Illustration 2: A later painting of the Boston Massacre corrects some of the inaccuracies of the Revere-Pelham engraving. The event is portrayed as taking place at night, which it did, and unlike the Revere-Pelham version soldiers are not lined up in military formation. Also, Crispus Attucks, the first victim of the massacre, is correctly represented as a black man.
The artist J.E. Taylor painted this picture.
Death of Attucks, Boston Massacre by J.E. Taylor, 1899
http://dsc.discovery.com/guides/history/unsolvedhistory/bostonmassacre/photogallery/slide_05.html
Juror Task #3:
Examine the illustrations contained in packet #3 and complete the following activities.
In packet 3 you see two different illustrations of the incident. For each of the illustrations answer the following questions.
Questions / Illustration #1by Paul Revere / Illustration #2
by J.E. Taylor
1. How long after the
incident was the
illustration completed?
2. About how many
colonists are in the
drawing?
3. What are the colonists
doing?
4. How many soldiers are
in the drawing?
5. What are the soldiers
doing?
6. Where is Captain
Preston located?
Identify which soldier
you think is Preston?
7. How many of the
colonists appear to be
either killed or injured?
Can you identify any
of them?
8. Given what you learned
in the briefing papers
and the accounts, do
you think the
illustration is a reliable
(believable) piece of
evidence about what
happened in Boston on
March 5, 1770?
Explain.
9. How does the illustration you drew for Envelope 1 compare to the illustrations in this packet? How are they the same? How are they different?