 |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
At about 8:00 on the clear, moonlit night of March 5, 1770, a young boy began taunting a British sentry on King Street near the Custom House. The sentry responded with force, and a crowd began to gather. Someone rang the church bells, signaling a fire had started. The crowd began shouting insults and throwing objects.
A group of guardsmen, led by Captain Thomas Preston, came to the sentry's aid. In the confusion, the soldiers fired their rifles into the crowd. Five men were left dead, and six others wounded. Captain Preston and eight of his men from the 29th British Regiment were arrested and put on trial.
The Charges Against Captain Preston
On the night of March 5, 1770, Captain Thomas Preston, without sufficient reason, ordered his soldiers of the 29th Regiment to fire their guns into a crowd, killing five people.
Read Captain Preston's
Statement