Tag Archives: boston massacre

History doesn’t always have to be written by the victors

On 5th March 1770 outside the customs house on King’s Street, Boston, Private Hugh White was talking to some off-duty comrades when a passing Bostonian made a crack about the British soldier’s commanding officer – prompting Pvt White to clock the civilian across the side of the head. The off-duty soldiers made themselves scarce, leaving the private to deal with the fast-growing ring of angry Bostonians that soon surrounded him. White backed up against the custom house door – gun raised out of fear of what might happen next. The growing crowd heckled him, daring him to shoot.

Up the street, Captain Preston, commander of the custom house garrison, watched events unfold. The Captain was hoping that the situation would resolve itself naturally but soon the church bells started tolling and more men, many armed with clubs, started showing up and Preston knew it was high-time that he went to get his man. He led a corporal and six privates through the crowd, now numbering 300-400 strong, towards Private White but rather than just pulling the soldier out from the situation he ordered his men to form a semi-circle around him while facing the crowd, guns unfortunately loaded.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Joe OttenJoe Otten
    I'm sure it's not intended but this feels like asking the question - what is the minimum we need to do to defeat Trump, or will he just go away. Use the Medi...
  • Nick Baird
    I do worry about the 2026 mid-terms. What would happen if Trump posts members of his greatly expanding ICE force outside polling stations in Democrat-leaning di...
  • Brenda Will
    It would be nice to think that Medicaid cuts will hurt the republicans hard in 2026, but I still think that the most we can hope for is the Democrats to take ba...
  • Craig Levene
    Paul; Outside of those well to do leafy shires Reform continue to perform quite well , as opposed to our vote share that's for sure. A real test to see if tho...
  • paul barker
    10 elections & Reform gain 4 seats - that looks grim but look at the opinion polls & it seems that we have passed Peak Reform. Actually there have been...