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Captain Thomas Preston: Necessary Or Justified?

1400 Words6 Pages

In the early 1760’s, the tension between the people in Boston and the British soldiers started to grow until in early 1770, when the two groups reached their breaking point. On March 5, 1770, a group of men started intimidating a British soldier; he soon called for assistance but eventually the crowd had grown to practically one hundred people. Captain Thomas Preston and seven other soldiers arrived, trying to calm the situation down, but to no avail. A soldier fired into the crowd followed by the other soldiers firing soon after, resulting in five people being killed. Captain Thomas Preston happened to be arrested and charged with murder. The reality of what truly happened that night are ambiguous; some witnesses claim that Captain Thomas Preston ordered the soldiers to fire into the crowd while others say that he did not. After reviewing the testimonies given by witnesses, it is unquestionable that Captain Thomas Preston was innocent since witnesses place the Captain in the front of the soldiers, one of the soldiers is observed being hit by an object resulting in his firing of the first shot and …show more content…

The facts of the case are that the Captain had been standing in front of the soldiers talking to someone at the time when the first gun went off, which would make giving an order to fire very senseless, considering that the Captain himself could have been shot. While he spoke with another person, another soldier was hit with an object causing him to unwittingly fire into the crowd and at that instant or immediately after, a man was seen talking to the soldiers from behind advising them to fire. Therefore, the tragic events that occurred that night was at first a terrible accident leading to a foolish act made by a man who had no right to tell any soldier to fire. This shows that Captain Thomas Preston had no part in this shooting other than being at the

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Paul Revere (January 1, 1735 - May 10, 1818) was a Patriot in the revolutionary war remembered for his self-less ness and his most famous accomplishment, “The midnight ride of Paul Revere.” He was a great leader and role model in the beginning of our new nation. On the night of April 18, 1775, a patriot leader in Boston, Joseph Warren hears word about an attack on Concord, where patriots were keeping arms and also where patriot leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams were staying. British troops were marching to Concord to destroy the arms and capture Hancock and Adams. Warren sends Paul Revere to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

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This makes sense because if he did give the command to fire the gun, he would have been killed since he was standing in front of them. Another supporting fact is that there was a man standing next to Preston, in FRONT of the soldiers, who witnessed what happened. The evidence was on his jacket where it showed the scorched cloth from the

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On March 5, 1770 a street fight occurred between a mob of Boston citizens and British soldiers. The soldiers were increasingly unwelcome in Boston so the citizens threw snowballs, stones, and sticks at the group of soldiers who had been stationed here- the soldiers retaliated. The citizens were very outnumbered and the fight resulted in five deaths and six injuries from Boston. Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty named this event the Boston Massacre. The morning after, John Adams was sitting in his law office when Paul Revere revealed an engraving that showed Thomas Preston (captain of the British soldiers) ordering troops to fire at point blank range on the citizens.

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Preston’s account of the incident further elaborates on the the mob which, with their weapons and taunts, was obviously a threat. Preston clearly states that he felt that he and his soldiers were in

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