Essay On Captain Prestons Shooting

On March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, there was a shooting of five colonists by seven British soldiers and their leader, Captain Preston. The five colonists that were killed were Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr. It started when one winter night, a few of Prestons men were getting ice balls and snowballs thrown at them. Colonists were daring those soldiers to shoot and were calling them dirty lobsterbacks. Some colonists were even grabbing at the soldier's uniforms and trying to pull the guns at out of their hands. Then someone yelled the word fire. Guns were shot and five colonists were killed. Later on, Captain Preston and his seven men were accused of murder. Colonist, John Adams represented them at their trial. With all of the evidence, I believe that Captain Preston was innocent of murder. Colonist, Robert Goddard was standing behind Captain Preston when the shooting happened. Goddard said that he heard the captain yell fire. Despite the testimony of Robert Goddard, many other colonists at the scene saw Richard Palmes standing with his hand on the captain's shoulder. Palmes was Adams leading witness. When Palmes saw the riot happening he went over to where Preston was standing, put his hand on his shoulder, and asked him if he was going …show more content…
They claimed that the Governor asked him why he shot and the captain responded with “I had to save my sentry.” However, when the Lieut Governor was asked he said that when he talked to the captain he could not hear his response because of the commotion the mob was making. But, he noticed how Preston was in shock and overwhelmed. The governor said he didn't know Preston personally, but could trust him and knew he was a good guy. Another witness saw Preston getting aggravated with his soldiers and telling them to stop