On March 5, 1770, the tension from British military occupation of Boston escalated into the event now referred to as the Boston Massacre. There was heavy military presence in Downtown Boston in order to maintain control over civilians and to enforce the Townshend Act. Various brawls between soldiers and civilians had taken place, but the evening of March 5th was the first to result in civilian deaths. Today the site of the massacre is marked by a cobblestone ring on the traffic island at the intersection of Devonshire and State Streets.

The incident began when a few young men began throwing snowballs at the soldiers stationed in the center of town. As a crowd began to accumulate, becoming loud and violent, the soldiers called for reinforcements. After a soldier was taken down by a piece of ice, he fired his weapon and his shot was followed by the firing of all but one soldier’s gun. Five civilians died and six others were injured during the incident, as a result, the soldiers involved were tried for manslaughter. The incident caused the royal government to remove all troops from the center of Boston the very next day.

Paul Revere’s engraving depicting the event was sold throughout the colonies and was an effective piece of anti-British propaganda.