American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,

THE BOSTON MASSACRE,

MARCH 5, 1770.

BY SAMUEL A. GBEEN.

THE Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, has differentmeanings to different persons, varying as seen from indi-vidual standpoints. To some minds the resistance thenmade to British authority was the outcropping of athoroughly lawless and riotous spirit of a mob, utterlybeyond all excuse ; while to others it was the last expres-sion of a deep hostility to the mother" country, which wasnot only justifiable but praiseworthy. For some yearsbefore the massacre a feeling of strong animosity againstEngland was growing rapidly among the Colonists, thoughthere was no one then so wild as to expect or even tofavor independence. During this period the gulf betweenthe two parties was gradually widening, and the generaltrend of public affairs was against reconciliation. Undersuch conditions it is hardly to be supposed that the surfacewould remain smooth and unruffled ; but, on the coritrary,it is natural that it should have been disturbed more or lessby sj'mpathy and prejudice.

Various causes had been at work to sow the seeds ofpolitical discontent. Among the earliest was the passageof the Stamp Act by the English Parliament in 1765,which was repealed, howeyer, during the next year, as thecrown authorities found it impossible to enforce the law.Another cause, the next in point of time, was the arrivalof a British fleet in October, 1768, bringing to Bostonfrom Halifax two regiments of soldiers. The towjn hadmade no provision for the accommodation of these troops,

1900.] The Boston Massacre. 41

and the inhabitants protested vigorously that the govern-ment had no right to quarter soldiers on them in timeof peace, without the consent of the General Court. Forthe first night after their arrival, some of the troops foundshelter in Faneuil Hall, while others bivouacked on theCommon ; and it was several weeks before the neededbarracks were obtained. The arrival of these tAvo regi-ments, sent in order to suppress popular movements, Avasconsidered by the sober-minded people of the town, if notas an insult and a threat, then surely as an impolitic step onthe part of the English government. Ever since the pas-sage of the Stamp Act, mutterings of continued discontentwere heard ; and for some years the political atmospherewas haz}', and the outlook threatening. The elements ofa general explosion were all present, and it required ou\ya certain combination of circumstances to produce thespark that would fire the train. It is difficult noAV inthese piping times of domestic peace fully to appreciatethe deep feeling of hostility to the Crown which thenexisted in the town of Boston. The population Avas ahomogeneous one, made up of 12,000 or 15,000 inhabit-ants. God-fearing and law-abiding people, who saw a smallarmy quartered in their midst. They had made protestafter protest, but all of no avail. The popular leadersclaimed that troops thus quartered, in time of peace,without the consent of the Legislature, was as mucha violation of their chartered rights, as the posting of anarmy on the banks of the Thames, Avithout the consentof Parliament, would be contrary to the English Con-stitution.

There were tAVo classes in the community : one classcomprising a great majority of the population, Avho laterbecame known as patriots ; and the other made up largelyof office-holders, and men of a conservative turn of mind,who became knoAvn as tories. The line of demarcationseparating these two sets of persons each year was becom-

42 American Antiquarian Society. [Oet.,

ing more and more distinct, and the gap between thern wasgradually growing Avider and wider. The young men, asthey came upon the stage of action, sided with their sires,and helped to mould public sentiment. The feeling of thetown and neighborhood was in favor of large and broad lib-erty in all matters concerning the province or the person,but the idea of separation from the mother country had notas yet entered their minds. To them the ubiquitous pre.s-ence of armed men in the streets was a continual menaceand threat, though they were there to keep order and toenforce law ; and the sight of a scarlet uniform Avas asirritating to them, as a i"ed flag is supposed to beto a mad bull. For two years this invitation had beenincreasing, and it soon became an inflamed spot oh thebody politic. What at the outset Avas little more thana deep feeling, in time developed into bitter and rainpanthostility, engendered by the sight of uniformed men.The conditions were all favorable for a clash betweenthe civil and military authorities ; and from tinie totime disputes and disagreements arose, but fortunatelythey subsided Avithout open rupture. A flint and a pieceof steel, brought into sudden contact with each other,will produce a spark, but not more surely than an irre-sponsible crowd will break the peace, when the indi-vidual members are pushed to extremities, and tbeirpatience is exhausted. Oftentimes they are smarting fi;omhalf-forgotten injuries and insults Avhich in the excitementof the moment rise up and add fuel to the flames, and thusunconsciously intensify the hatred. Under such conditionsrebellions arise, and revolutions begin. If the uprisingsare put down, they are called rebellions ; but if they aresuccessful, they beeome revolutions and are so recordedin history. Success is the touchstone by whieh they arejudged.

In derogation of the massacre, it has been said that thecrowd which opposed the soldiers on that memorable

1900.] The Boston Massacre. 43

occasion Avas a mob, and that the victims of that eveningmet their just fate and died " as a fool dieth." Perhaps itAvas a mob ; but if so, the line separating them from themen who fell on Lexington green is both indistinct andundefined. If the American Revolution had not provedsuccessful, the minute-men of that period Avould havefigured in history as rioters and laAv-breakers. No monu-ments would have been raised to their memory, and noAvords spoken in praise of their deeds. In street braAvlsboth sides are apt to be in the Avrong, though not neces-sarily to the same degree. The cause of this lies fardoAvn in the frailties of poor human nature, and sonjealloAvance must be made for individual imperfections.The various crises in the world's history are in obedienceto natural forces which break out at one time or another.They are pai't of an unknown plan which governs humanaction, and the power behind them is irresistible.

As a rule people are never moral or virtuous Avho arenot happy ; and in the interest of morality and religion, itis the dut}^ of communities to cultivate cheerfulness andhappiness. The framers of the Constitution of Massachu-setts recognized this truth when they Avere performingtheir labors. In one of the chapters of the Constitution,they laid doAvn the general proposition that Avisdom andknoAvledge as Avell as virtue, diffused generally amongthe mass of the people, Avere necessaiy for the preserva-tion of their rights and liberties ; and that Avisdom andknoAvledge and virtue Avere dependent on many con-

1 ditions, among Avhich Avere good humor and all socialaffections. In other Avords, contentment lies at thefoundation of character.

The active participants in the massacre, on the part ofthe town, Avere men of humble origin and of no particularsocial standing in the community, but they had the sympa-thy of their neighbors ; and the victims of that eventfulevening received every mark of sincere sorrow when they

44 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,

Avere laid away in their silent graves. The MassachusettsGazette: and the Boston Weekly News-Letter, Marcli 15,1770, says :— i

" It is supposed their must have been a greater Numberof People from Town and Country at the Funeral of thosewho were massacred by the Soldiers, than were evertogether on this Continent on any Occasion."

!l

This shoit paragraph shoAvs the feeling of public senti-ment at the time of the event better than statements madein recent years that the Avhole affair Avas a mob, and thatit was not upheld by the good sense of the community.

If you please to call it so, the participants may havebeen a mob, a tumultuous croAvd incited to Aboient deeds.Human action cannot always be measured b}' rule, but it isgoverned by individual feeling. Each one of us is con-scious of his own frailties, and Ave all knoAv our ownshort-comings. Whether a man belongs to the upper-tenof society, or the loAver-ninety, the motives of action aresimilar, if not the same, for there is a good deal of humannature in mankind. Theoretically the massacre—whetherviewed from the side of the aggressor or the aggrievedwas a lawless act, but it found a place in the evolutionof events Avhich brought about great results. Such popu-lar convulsions sometimes bring forth fruit that in the longrun ripens and mellows : " first the blade, theu the ear ;after that, the full corn in the ear." The participants, onthe part of the people, Avere the pioneers Avho blazed theway to be travelled by others ; and they marked the trailthat led to the separation of the Colonies from England.They had their rough duties in the community, and while,perhaps, they were not models of propriety in daily life,they each were parts needed in the grand make-up of thewhole. Men of their class helped to form public opinionAvhich supported independence, and hastened the day whenit Avas declared. In connection Avith other actions deemed

1900.] The Boston Massacre. 45

riotous by conservative persons, the massacre was as essen-tial to the final and complete result as some of tlae moreorderly and parliamentary proceedings.

Einis coronat opits. "The end crowns all," saysShakespeare ; and we have to judge the whole hj theresult. The action of that evening, lawless though it were,was a stop in the stairway that a few years later led up tothe Declaration of Independence. The Boston Tea-Partyalso was ii rung in the ladder leading up to the sameplane, — which was equally lawless, but productive ofgreat aud good results. That, too, constituted a phase inevolution. No great deed in histoiy is ever all right orwholly wrong, but it is more or less composite, and mustbe judged by the general effect. The motives actuatingdifferent persons are not ahvays clear, sometimes they aregood, and sometimes bad, but generally they are complexin the same person.

The immediate victims of the massacre were CrispusAttucks, Samuel Gray, and James Caldwell, who werekilled outright ; and two others, Samuel Maverick andRobert Carr, who died soon afterward from their injuries.Six others Avere badly wounded, of whom one, ChristopherMonk, a lad of seventeen years, for a long time after theaffair dragged out a miserable existence, and more thanonce is mentioned by John Hancock, in his oration on thefifth of March, 1774.

Owing to a combination' of circumstances, the first manhere named, Crispus Attucks, has acquired a local notorietythroughout the limits of this Commonwealth, aud by reasonof his racial origin ho has gained a much Avidor roputationamong his colored brethren throughout the country.According to universal testimony, in his day and genera-tion he had not made himself a very useful member ofsociety. And why should he have done so, as he belongedto an abused and enslaved race, deprived of all those rightsAvhich he valued the most? He was neither a freeman nor

46 American Antiquarian Society. . [Oct.,I

a resident of Boston, but a bird of passage in the town,Avho chanced to take part in the affray and Avas shot doAvnin the street. It is said that he was identical with the manadvertised in The Boston Gazette, or Weekly Journal,November 20, 1750, as a "runaAvay" from his masterWilliam BroAvne, of Framingham. He is there describedas a "Molatto FelloAV, about 27 years of Age, namedCrispus, Avcll set, 6 Feet 2 Inches high, short curl'd hair," ^etc. His name " Attucks " Avould suggest that he Avas ofIndian origin ; and the probability is that he Avas adescendant of the Natick tribe. Undoubtedly, he repre-sented in his own person a mixture of three races, the red,Avhite and black. TAventy years later, on his Avay toNorth Carolina, he turns up in Boston as a transientvisitor. '

Like many in his position, he Avas reckless in his con-duct, and had been brought up to fear nothing in the> lineof danger ; and he Avas itching for a fight. ' It Avas themost natural thing in the Avorld that he should take part inthe affray, and Avith his large frame that he AA-as the first toget hit. He Avas the leader of the mob, and the croAvdtook their pace from him. On such occasions a leaderonly is needed to kindle a fire Avhich Avater Avill notquench. Some of the victims of that evening Avere notactive participants in the affray, but simply bystandersand onlookers. Such is apt always to be the case withthose Avho are present in a street brawl out of curi()sit3^The innocent are as likely to suffer as the guilty; andAvhcn they do suffer, they get less sympathy. Attuckslittle thought that in future generations a monument ofgranite and bronze on a public site would be erected inhonor of himself and his comrades for the part they tookin the State-Street fight ; and that his oAvn name, cut in

'The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (XIII. 300) for October1869. s

1900.] The Boston Massacre. 47

stone, Avould lead the list of those Avho fell on that event-ful evening. " Thus the Avhirligig of Time brings in hisrevenges," and verifies the Gospel saying: "But manythat are first shall be last ; and the last shall be first."

In justice to Captain Preston, the officer in charge ofthe soldiers, it should be said, that he Avas tried for murderand acquitted, though at a later trial tAvo of his men, forthe part they took in the sad affair, Avere found guilty ofmanslaughter and branded in the hand. The trial ofCaptain Preston began on October 23, and lasted untilOctober 30, and that of the men on November 27, andlasted until December 5 ; and it is said that these trialsAvere the first in the Province that took up in time morethan a day each. The verdict of acquittal on the moreserious charge did not satisfy the people, and among themthere Avere many expressions of dissent. At the trial ofthe accused it seems someAvhat odd that John Adams andJosiah Quincy, Jr., should have appeared for the soldiers,and that Samuel Quincy, the elder brother of Josiah, shouldhave appeared for the people in opposition to the soldiers.A feAv years later the position of these distinguished advo-cates Avas greatly changed, when Josiah Quincy, Jr., hadfinished a young life Avhich he had devoted to the defenceof the rights of the colonies ; and Avhen John Adams stoodup in the Continental Congress, and together Avith otherpatriots advocated the principles embodied in the Declara-tion of Independence; and Avhen Samuel Quincy, theelder brother, had fled as a tory from his native land, andended his days under the British flag.

TAvelve years ago the CommonAvealth of MassachusettssaAv fit to erect a monument to the memory of the unfortu-nate victims who fell in State Street. Memorial stonesand tablets had been set up in various quarters of theState commemorating deeds of danger and heroism donein the interest of liberty and freedom ; and the questionAvas often asked Avhy no monument had been raised to the

48 American Antiquarian Society. [jOct.,

memory 5f those Avho took part in the Boston Massacre.The ansAver Avas simple ; that these men had placed them-selves in an attitude of defiance of the laAV, and aslaAv-breakers they should not be honored. Further reflec-tion, on the part of the public, shoAved that the actors inthis affair Avere no more real rioters than those Avho a feAvyears later thrcAv the tea overboard at GriiSn's wharf L Ina limited sense they Avere rioters, and SQ Avere many othersof that period, Avho are noAV considered patriots of thehighest type. On great occasions men often act fromtheir feelings or from impulse, and not from their reason ;and their action is to be judged by the result. It is rarethat any action, hoAvever good and pure, is AvhoUy so ; butit is mixed or mingled more or less, Avith what is other-Avise. It is impossible to square it Avith a plumb or tomeasure it by a rule. " The Aveb of our life is of a mingledyarn, good and ill together."

Out of deference to public sentiment, on May 17, 1887,the General Court of Massachusetts made an appropriationfor the purpose of erecting a monument, in some publicplace in the city of Boston, in memory of the men AvhoAvere killed by British soldiers at the time of the massacre.It is but fair to add that a protest to the appropriation Avasmade by very respectable bodies and by eminent men,Avho saAV in this action an attempt, as they thought, toperpetuate an error in history. There is a tendency noAv-adays, on the part of some Avriters, to palliate or readjustthe vieAvs commonly held by the tories of the Revolution-ary period, and otherAvise to defend their political opinions.If this attitude springs from a desire to find out historictruth, it is both just and right ; but if it comes from anAnglomania,—as in some cases, I fear, it does,—then itis both unjust and wrong. The great end of historicalinvestigation should be the truth, and this should besought Avithout fear or favor, and without bias or preju-dice. It Avas no discredit to the early instigators of the

1900.] The Boston Massacre. 49

Revolution that, in the main, they belonged to the yeo-manry of the country,—the plain people, as AbrahamLincoln liked to call them,—and for the most part theyAvere not cultivated in the arts and graces of life, as theyAvere too busy in other matters to give much time to thefrills and furbelows of society. Their accomplishmentsAvere of the home-spun order, and sprang from theirfeelings rather than from their training. Certainly theydid not belong to the ruling classes, but they applaudedand upheld the men Avho took part in the massacre.Their sympathies Averc Avith them, and Avhen the victimsof that evening Avere taken to their last resting place,the patriotic inhabitants of Boston and neighborhood inmany ways testified to the love aud regard they borethem. So deeply did they sympathize Avith these " rioters "that they met each year thereafter in the Old Southmeeting-house and listened to the oft-told story of themassacre, as related by some distinguished speaker.These various addresses Avere known as Fifth of MarchOrations, and for a time they entered into the literary andintellectual life of the toAvn of Boston ; nor Avas thecustom of commemorating the day given up until theyear 1783, Avhen it Avas superseded by the celebration ofthe Fourth of July, Avhich has continued even to thepresent time.

On the anniversary of the massacre, six years after theevent, the great Washington in camp at Cambridge recalledit to the remembrance of his troops " as a day never to beforgotten."

On March 2, 1786, John Adams, in Avriting an officialcommunication from London, said:—"The 5th of March,1770, ought to be an eternal Avarning to this nation[England]. On that night the foundation of Americanindependence Avas laid." Mr. Adams, probably, Avas asfamiliar Avith the train of circumstances leading up toindependence, as any other man ; and he knew, morc-

50 Amei'icqn Antiqitarian Society. [Oct.,!'

over, the trend of public sentiment following the event.If the foundation of American independence was laidthen and there, the superstructure which has since beenerected bears witness that it was a solid foundation, andsuch a one as never was laid by a mob.

Again, in a letter to Dr. Jedidiah Morse, written fromQuincy, January 5, 1816, John Adams said : ^ " Howslightly soever historians may have passed over this event[the massacre] the blood of the martyrs, right or wrong,proved to be the seeds of the congregation. Not thebattle of Lexington or Bunker's Hill, not the surreiider ofBurgoyne or Cornwallis Avere more important events inAmerican history than the battle of King Street, on the5th of March, 1770."

Coming doAvn to a later period, Daniel Webster ex-pressed the same sentiment as Mr. Adams, Avhen he said :" From that moment Ave may date the severance of theBritish Empire." The late George Livermore, a memberof this Society, said: "The Boston Massacre, March 5,1770, may be regarded as the first act in the drama of theAmerican Revolution." And in very recent times thatdistinguished Avriter and our associate, John Fiske, iuspeaking of the massacre, has said :—" It is, therefore,historically correct to regard them [the victims] las thefirst martyrs to the cause of American independence ; assuch they have long deserved a monument in the mosthonorable place that Boston could give for the purpose;and such a place is Boston Common."

It may be Avorth the while here to record the factthat a manuscript plan of King Street (noAv knÓAvn asState Street) at the time of the massacre is preserved inthe Boston Public Library. It Avas draAvn by Paul Revere,probably by order of the court, and was used at the trialof Captain Preston and his soldiers. It shoAvs the exactplace where fell Attucks and Gray, Avho Avere the firstvictims ; and in the year 1886 the spot Avas marked by

1900.] The Boston Massacre. 51

circles in the pavement of the street, near the corner ofExchange Street, Avhich represent a Avheel eight or ninefeet in diameter, Avith its spokes and hub.

Measured by human life, a century is a long period oftime, so long, indeed, that the memory of man runnethnot to the beginning. Such round periods have a certainfascination for the average person, Avho always takes adelight in anniversaries ; and these periods offer a goodopportunity for a review of the progress in public achieve-ments. Standing, as Ave UOAV do, on the diA'iding linebetAveen two centuries of the Christian era,—the one thatis nearly passed, and the other about to begin,—it may be inkeeping Avith this occasion to change the subject and verybriefly to consider the inheritance Avhich the Nineteenthcentury received from former civilization, and the giftsAvhich it is about to make to the TAventieth. Among theTnore important ones it received from preceding centuriesma}' be mentioned aphabetical Avriting, Arabic numerals,the printing press, the mariner's compass, the telescope,the barometer and the steam engine ; and among theimportant ones it soon Avill give to the coming centurymay be mentioned the application of electricity, not onlyfor the transmission of thought, but also of sound, andfor- purposes of locomotion and of lighting streets anddwellings. It may be proper to allude here to the factthat the application of electricity for the transmission ofsound and the distant reproduction of the Voice Avas firstput to a practical use by a distinguished member of thisSociety. Besides these gifts to the next century may bementioned the application of steam to locomotion, Avhetheron land or Avatcr, Avliich has shortened in time the distancebetween continents as Avell as betAveen far-aAvay cities,photography, spectrum analysis, and various institutionsfor the amelioration of suffering and for the remedyof • evils. The greatest boon to the human race since

52 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.,

the invention of printing, assuredly in the minds of themedical profession, has been the discovery of the anajs-thetic properties of sulphuric ether, by means of which toa vast extent human life has been saved and physical painprevented. It is difficult to overestimate the valuej of thisdiscovery ; and if a judgment were rendered by-those Avhohave enjoyed its blessed benefits, the decision Avould beoverAvhelming in its favor. Closely akin to anaesthetics inimportance is the introduction of antiseptic surgery Avithits allied science of bacteriology, by Avhich myriads oflives have been saved, to the great joy of parents andfriends. These are some of the larger inventions anddiscoveries ; and then there are others so inconspicuousand apparently so trifling that there is danger of overlook-ing them, though they belong to the great achieA'ementsof the century. A case in point is the common frictionmatch, Avhich is so cheap that no hovel or hamlet throughoutChristendom is ever Avithout it, and yet so useful that it isfound in every house or mansion, no matter hoAv palatial,and in every vessel that sails the sea. Bunches of matchesare made by the millions and millions, and broad acresof forests are cut down each year to supply the Avood ;and in every home they are used Avithout regard to Avasteor economy. Perhaps no other invention of the centurA'comes so closely in touch with the household and thefamily in all parts of the Avorld as this necessity ofdomestic life.

The inheritance of the Nineteenth century Avas large andgenerous, but its own bequests to the TAventieth are largerand more generous. It is ahvays dangerous to play thepart of a prophet, but I predict that the next century Avillgive to its successor even greater inventions and discov-eries than those we are.about to give, which have beenmade during the last hundred years. The next centuryAvill lay more stress on the duties and obligations of moralphilosophy in the treatment of evils, political and social.

1900.] The Boston Massacre. 53

which will inure to the benefit of mankind ; and in manyAvays it Avill strengthen the weak and raise up the doAvn-trodden. It will smooth the rough places and soften thehard spots that lie in the path of the weary traveller onhis journey through life. It will put into practice thosegreat principles of ethics Avhich underlie the Avhole systemof Christianity, and will make the conditions of daily lifeeasier, and therefore better and pleasanter for humanity.