5 March 1775 A.D. The Boston Massacre
5 March 1775 A.D. The Boston Massacre Editors. “The Boston Massacre.” History Channel. N.d. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-boston-massacre . Accessed 4 Mar 2015. The Boston Massacre On the cold, snowy night of March 5, 1770, a mob of American colonists gathers at the Customs House in Boston and begins taunting the British soldiers guarding the building. The protesters, who called themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by British troops, who were sent to Boston in 1768 to enforce unpopular taxation measures passed by a British parliament that lacked American representation. British Captain Thomas Preston, the commanding officer at the Customs House, ordered his men to fix their bayonets and join the guard outside the building. The colonists responded by throwing snowballs and other objects at the British regulars, and Private Hugh Montgomery was hit, leading him to discharge his rifle at the crowd. The other soldiers bega...