Massacre at Butcher's Hall, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come hearken to a bloody tale of how the soldiery Did murder men in Boston, as you full soon shall see." The 29th Regiment attacks the Americans. Several are killed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania)
KEYWORDS: soldier death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Mar 5, 1870 - The "Boston Massacre"
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, p. 53, "The Massacre at Butcher's Hall" (1 text) (p. 43 in the 1919 edition)
Roud #14079
NOTES [1265 words]: As is usual in history, there are two sides to the story of the Boston Massacre. Jameson, p. 76, gives a fairly orthodox American view:
"During 1769 and the early months of 1770 continual quarrels and misunderstandings occurred between the Boston population and the British soldiers stationed in the town, over the persistent non-observation of the navigation acts. In February, 1770, a press gang from the British frigate 'Rose' boarded a ship belonging to Hooper, of Marblehead, and a riot followed. On the night of March 5, the ringing of fire bells brought together a large crowd and the usual collision with the soldiers took place. The soldiers fired. Three persons were killed and several others severely wounded. The news of the Boston Massacre spread rapidly, strengthening the revolutionary spirit. The soldiers were acquitted."
(According to Paine, p 437, the H.M.S. Rose was a sixth-rate frigate, built in 1757, which in 1768 was sent to the Americas and stayed there until she was scuttled in 1779 to keep the French from being able to sail into and through Charleston. Early in her career, she actively impressed merchant sailors for the Royal Navy -- obviously not something that the sailors liked, but the colonials were not treated any differently than people in England. It's just that they complained more.)
Jameson may not want to admit it, but in fact the British soldiers were heavily provoked. Though the details are very murky; most of what we know apparently comes from claims and counter-claims in the court case.
It was perhaps a follow-on to another fight, where a redcoat who was looking for work to make extra money while off duty was insulted by a colonial, and fists flew (Cook, pp. 150-151; Middlekauff, p. 203). This set many of the people of Boston on edge.
Monday, March 5 was a cold night, with snow on the slippery ground. British Private Hugh White was on guard outside the Custom House on King Street (Marrin, p. 27; Cook, p. 151, says that this had long been a place for demonstrations). It is likely a barber's assistant named Edward Garrick called out to a British captain that he hadn't paid his bill. Private White for some reason took it into his head to cry out that the captain was a gentleman and always paid his bills (Marrin, pp. 27-28). To which Garrick said that there were no gentlemen in the British army. White hit him with his musket. Garrick retreated -- and returned with a mob, which quickly grew.
White had no choice but to retreat -- except that the Custom House was closed. He needed help, and Captain Thomas Preston, the officer on duty in the British barracks ordered out a squad to rescue him (Marrin, p. 28, says he heard White's cries; Cook, p. 151, and Middlekauff, p. 204, say that Preston saw what was happening and responded). Preston went with the group of six privates and a corporal (Middlekauff, p. 205).
The crowd grew quickly; apparently there had been a fire scare that night, setting bells ringing and drawing people into the streets (McCullough, p. 65; Middlekauff, p. 204, thinks it was a deliberate false alarm to draw people out.)
Preston might have retreated, but instead he may have tried to reason with the crowd. He certainly didn't order his men to fire, which was against the law (Marrin, p. 29). But some say that one of the crowd -- possibly Crispus Attucks, a tall man who may have been Black and certainly not your typical New Englander -- hit him in the arm; he also hit one of the soldiers (Marrin, p. 29).
It is also possible that one of the soldiers was hit by snow, or slipped on it (Cook, p. 152; Middlekauff, p. 205, gives the private's name as Hugh Montgomery). Whatever the situation, the man fired (Cook, p. 152, says it is not clear whether it was deliberate or an accident; McCullough, p. 67, allows the possibility that Preston gave the order to fire, although none of the other sources accept this). That caused the other soldiers to fire. Five in the crowd, including Attucks, were killed or mortally wounded (Marrin, p. 29); six others were wounded (Cook, p. 152; Middlekauff, p. 206).
The British really did go by the rules. They put Preston and his squad on trial for murder, though they delayed the trial for six months in hopes things would calm down (Cook, p. 152; McCullough, p. 67. In one of life's truly strange ironies, one of the assistants to the prosecution was Robert Treat Paine Sr., whose sone Robert Treat Paine Jr. would write "Adams and Liberty"). Preston's friends managed to convince John Adams to defend them. Adams wanted American independence, but he was also an honest man -- and he convinced a Boston jury to acquit the soldiers on all but two of the soldiers the basis of self-defense; even the two convicted of manslaughter, although branded, were not executed (McCullough, p. 68; Marrin, pp. 30-31 calls it benefit of clergy). Adams reportedly lost a lot of his clients, because they didn't agree with him defending the soldiers, but in the long run his reputation for integrity was strengthened (McCullough, p. 68).
That was that: There was a riot, those who were attacked defended themselves, and some of those who attacked them died. It should have been the end. But Samuel Adams and others used the Massacre as grounds to ratchet up complaints about British rule. The British took measures to calm things (Marrin, p. 33 -- indeed, they had cut their garrison even before the Massacre; Cook, p. 150). The fire-eaters among the Americans refused to be calmed.
The name "Butcher's Hall" is a bit of propaganda by none other than Paul Revere. The actual building was the Customs House. But Revere produced an engraved pint of the scene which plastered the label "Butcher's Hall" on it (Marrin, p. 32). The engraving is deliberately inaccurate in other ways -- notably, it shows the colonials as unarmed. Also, it shows the British soldiers in line and firing volleys, rather than in a defensive circle (at least, Middlekauff, p. 205, says they were in a circle) and firing, without orders, in response to a perceived direct threat. Marrin, p. 32, shows the actual engraving, with Paul Revere's name readily visible.
The song is correct in saying that the troops were of the 29th Regiment; the 14th Regiment was also stationed in Boston (Middlekauff, p. 206). The date, March 5, 1770, is also correct. The location on King Street is correct; the mention of Butcher's Hall is clearly based on the Paul Revere distortion.
The song lists Samuel Maverick, "Monk," Samuel Gray, and Patrick Carr as killed; James Caldwell and Crispus Attucks as "bleeding in the mire," and John Clark as wounded. Oddly, though most of the books mention Attucks, they rarely list the other victims. The Boston Massacre Historical Society (bostonmassacre.net) lists the killed as Attucks, Gray, and 17-year-old Caldwell as killed on the spot, 17-year-old Maverick as dying the next day, Carr as dying two weeks later, and "Christopher Monk who should rightly be considered the sixth victim of the massacre" -- he didn't die for another decade, but the injury, it is claimed, was so severe as to disable himand lead to his early death. Thus the song is sort of right to to list Monk as killed, and it correctly lists the other five who died. The reason why it list Monk is not clear; was it written that much later? I don't know. Otherwise, the song clearly represents the Paul Revere/American view of what happened quite accurately.
I do find it noteworthy that three of the six killed were teenagers. It appears the crowd really was composed of hot-headed young fools. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 6.5
File: Shoe053

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.