Explanation: Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britainâs tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, âno taxation without representation.â
Skirmishes between colonists and soldiersâand between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists)âwere increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers.
On February 22, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalistâs store. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots.everal days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come.
On the frigid, snowy evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was the only soldier guarding the Kingâs money stored inside the Custom House on King Street. It wasnât long before angry colonists joined him and insulted him and threatened violence.
At some point, White fought back and struck a colonist with his bayonet. In retaliation, the colonists pelted him with snowballs, ice and stones. Bells started ringing throughout the townâusually a warning of fireâsending a mass of male colonists into the streets. As the assault on White continued, he eventually fell and called for reinforcements.
In response to Whiteâs plea and fearing mass riots and the loss of the Kingâs money, Captain Thomas Preston arrived on the scene with several soldiers and took up a defensive position in front of the Custom House.
Worried that bloodshed was inevitable, some colonists reportedly pleaded with the soldiers to hold their fire as others dared them to shoot. Preston later reported a colonist told him the protestors planned to âcarry off [White] from his post and probably murder him.â
The violence escalated, and the colonists struck the soldiers with clubs and sticks. Reports differ of exactly what happened next, but after someone supposedly said the word âfire,â a soldier fired his gun, although itâs unclear if the discharge was intentional.