The first engagement in what became the American Revolution took place on this day, two hundred and fifty years ago. In it, British troops fired on a crowd of several hundred who had gathered to taunt soldiers occupying Boston to enforce Townsend Act taxes in the colony. The incident became known as the Boston Massacre.
Accounts of the evening are many and were largely consistent. The crowd outnumbered the soldiers, who had loaded their weapons and ultimately fired without being ordered to do so. Eleven in the crowd were shot and several died on the scene. The first to die was Chrispus Attucks, a former slave, which we can now look back on as an ironic twist of fate. He was one of about 5000 African Americans who fought for the American cause in the Revolution, where slavery survived far longer than in the British Empire.
The soldiers and their Captain were indicted for murder amid outrage over the shooting. Several lawyers refused to represent the defendants. John Adams, already known as opposed to British rule, did so as perhaps the first American lawyer to put the rule of law above personal preference and public interests.
Six were acquitted and two who were found to have purposefully fired into the crowd were convicted of manslaughter. Their punishment was to be branded on the thumb in open court.
Adams was not alone in doing what was just and right. Samuel Hemmingway, a surgeon who tended to one of those shot, testified that the victim felt the soldiers had fired in self defense. The victim, Patrick Carr, died from his wound, making Hemmingway’s testimony perhaps the first “dying declaration” exception to the rule against hearsay testimony.
We look back on this era as if the Revolution ensued quickly, but it was five long and troubled years before war began with “the shot heard round the world” at Concord. Change and hopefully progress often takes its time, which is something to bear in mind in dark days when one might wonder where justice and hope for the future resides and who will stand against the tides of sentiment to do what is right.
