Captain Thomas Preston's Account Of The Bloody Massacre In King Street

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The Bloody Massacre in King Street was what we know today as the Boston Massacre of 1770 on March 5th. It was a nightmarish night for the American mob who opposed the British Army. Five colonist died that night sadly and 4 were critically wounded. This event was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Some say this was just a collection of anger released by both sides as a result of the Townshend Act. Three documents analyzed is one from the British Captain Thomas Preston’s account of what happened. Then we have to American sided documents, one being anonymous and another being from the Boston Journal which was wrote a week after the massacre. All three documents announce that it is the 29th regiment under Captains Preston’s order who was involved …show more content…

He explains the beginning of the night by saying that the American mob was yelling horrible words and evil threats toward his men. In both the Anonymous document and the Boston Gazette there is no account of that occurring. Here is where the bias comes in by leaving out an important fact of what happened that night.
In the Anonymous letter there is a woman who is James Mcdeed’s wife who was a grenadier in the 29th regiment told her that the soldiers already stated they would have their swords and bayonets covered with New England blood. No other letter includes this statement which could make some believe that it was just a rumor going around which then got the colonist ready to defend. The differences before the shooting began differ in all three of the documents. In the Anonymous document the shooting began from a soldier challenging a rope maker to a boxing match. After being beaten he proceeds to go get several soldiers. After being bested again the soldiers repeated this process several times again before finally giving up and from this they said on the fifth of March we will inflict damage upon the inhabitants of this town. According to the Boston Journal

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