On the night of March 5, 1770, five men were shot to death in Boston town by British soldiers. The incident came at a time of growing distress with the presence of British soldiers and with Britain in general. While frequently seen as a cold hearted attack on unarmed men, the facts are closer to the reality of a group of Bostonian's taunting the soldiers until the tensions reached the point of the soldiers losing their discipline and fearing for their lives.

Witness accounts vary in the details and sequence of events but what is agreed is that there was a mob of men and boys taunting a sentry standing guard at the city's customs house. Captain Preston, the British Officer-of-the-Day, brought a group of soldiers to the aid of the sentry. As the most popular version goes, a British soldier was pushed to the ground and as he fell, his gun went off into the air and he screamed, "fire." Crispus Attucks a black sailor, was considered the first shot and he was to emerge as the most famous black man to fight in the Revolution.

Captain Preston was arrested by the acting Governor, Thomas Hutchinson and remained in jail for seven months awaiting trial. John Adams, the future vice-president agreed to defend the soldiers and their captain. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and their punishment was to have their thumbs branded and be discharged from the army. Captain Preston was acquitted.

Paul Revere's patriotic version of events differs from the hard facts. The shooting occurred at 9PM on a March night in Boston. Revere shows it in daylight with clean streets and no notice of winter. He also portrays Attucks as white. The British are shown standing in a straight line shooting their rifles in a regular volley, whereas when the shooting started both sides were acting belligerent and riotous. His historic engraving is long on political propaganda and short on accuracy or aesthetics.

By the 1760s, Revere was very prolific as a silversmith and his business was very successful. Revere's political work reflected the intensity that many of the "radicals" felt about the British presence and as a skilled engraver he was the first to began selling his color prints of "The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street." He took part in the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and he was one of the "Indians" who threw imported tea from a ship into Boston Harbor. His activities led to the accomplishment of being named to the London Enemies List, which posted those Patriots deemed most threatening to British rule. During the war he served in the Navy and was involved in the Penobscot Bay disaster, tried and acquitted.

After the war, he expanded his business in the manufacture of gold and silver ware. His recognition of business opportunities presented by the growing middle class expanded his business greatly. The business he established in 1801, eventually grew into Revere Copper and Brass, Inc., which is still in existence.

Medium : 1 print : engraving with watercolor, on laid paper

Created/Published : Boston, 1770

Creator : Paul Revere, engraver, 1735 - 1818

Housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress

Availability: Usually ships in one week

Product #: ppmsc00174