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Will Heward
Mark Welsh
E-Portfolio- (Dueling Documents)
30, March 2014
Who Was to Blame?
Who was to blame for the Boston Massacre? As most of us know, the Boston Massacre
occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, more specifically on King Street in downtown Boston. There
have been many different stories as to how the massacre came about or in other words, who was
at fault. Back in the 1700s warfare was much different from how it is now. At the time of the
Boston Massacre there was no such thing as Guerilla Warfare. When the British Soldiers
confronted the mobs of Boston on Kings Street, yes they were mobs and not militia yet, they
were lined up in a specific order. Captain Thomas was a British soldier who had all the power.
Thomas had the authority to tell his men to fire or not on the people of Boston. What a lot of
people like to believe was that Bostonians were just minding their own business when Captain
Thomas told his men to fire at will. The people of Boston were throwing rocks and trash at the
soldiers and hitting them with anything and everything they could get their hands on. Part of the
reason why everyone thinks the Bostonians werent at fault was because of the political cartoon
that was drawn up by the one and only Paul Revere. After all of the shootings on King Street,
Captain Thomas and six other soldiers were put on trial to find out if they were indeed at fault for
firing upon the people of Boston. The British soldiers were able to tell their side of the story, not
to mention they were represented by John Adams himself and Josiah Quincy Jr. They couldnt
have asked for a more fair trial. I found the deposition of Robert Goddard to be very interesting
but I dont think he is a very credible source. The jury proved the account of Captain Thomas
and four other soldiers to be innocent. The two other British redcoats werent so lucky.

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