| Citation |
NHG-P.771.012
15 Mar 1771:33 (752)
Boston, March 11, 1771. Tuesday last was the anniversary of
the never-to-be-forgotten 5th of March 1770, when Messrs.
Gray, Maverick, Caldwell, Carr, and Attucks, were inhumanly
murdered by a party of soldiers of the 29th Regiment in
Kingstreet;---The bells of the several Congregational
Meeting Houses were tolled from twelve o'clock at noon till
one;---In the evening there was a very striking exhibition
at the dwelling-house of Mr. Paul Revere, fronting the old
North Square; At one of the chamber windows was the
appearance of the ghost of the unfortunate young soldier,
with one of his fingers in the wound, endeavouring to stop
the blood issuing therefrom: Near him his friends weeping:
And at a small distance a monumental obelisk, with his bust
in front: On the front of the pedestal were the names of
those killed on the 5th of March: Underneath these lines:
Seider's pale ghost fresh-bleeding stands,
And vengeance for his death demands.
In the next window were represented the soldiers drawn up,
firing at the people assembled before them----the dead on
the ground---and the wounded falling, with the blood running
in streams from their wounds; Over which was wrote
Foul-Play. In the third window was the figure of a woman,
respecting America, sitting on the stump of a tree, with a
staff in her hand, and the Cap of Liberty on the top
thereof, one foot on the head of a grenadier lying
prostrate, grasping a serpent---Her finger pointing to the
tragedy.
The whole was so well executed, that the spectators, whose
numbers amounted to several thousands, were struck with
solemn silence, and their countenances were covered with a
melancholy gloom. At nine o'clock in the evening the bells
tolled a doleful peal until ten; when the exhibition was
withdrawn, and the people retired to their respective
habitations.
An oration, containing a brief account of the massacre; of
the imputation of treason and rebellion, with which the
tools of power endeavoured to brand the inhabitants, and a
discourse upon the nature of treasons, with some
considerations on the threats of the British Ministry to
take away the Massachusetts Charter, was delivered on the
evening by Dr. Young at the Factory-Hall, being the place
where the first effort of military tyranny was made within a
few days after the troops arrived.
|