Boston Massacre - Aftermath

Aftermath

Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and by morning Preston and the eight soldiers had been arrested. In a meeting of the governor's council held late the morning after the shootings, Boston's selectmen asked Hutchinson to order the removal of troops from the city to Castle William on Castle Island, while a town meeting at Faneuil Hall met to discuss the affair. The governor's council was at first opposed to ordering the troop withdrawal, with Hutchinson correctly claiming he did not have the authority to order the troops to move. Lieutenant Colonel William Dalrymple, commander of the troops, did not offer to move them. The town meeting, however, became more restive when it learned of this. Under an imminent threat of further violence, the council changed its position, and unanimously ("under duress", according to Hutchinson's report) agreed to request the troops' removal. Secretary of State Andrew Oliver reported that, had the troops not been removed, "that they would probably be destroyed by the people—should it be called rebellion, should it incur the loss of our charter, or be the consequence what it would." This decision left the governor without effective means to police the town. The 14th was transferred to Castle Island without incident about a week later, with the 29th following shortly after. The first four victims were buried amid great ceremony on March 8; Patrick Carr, the fifth and final victim, died on March 14 and was buried with them on March 17.

Mr. John Gillespie, in his deposition, (No. 104) declares that, as he was going to the south end of the town, to meet some friends at a public house, he met several people in the streets in parties, to the number, as he thinks, of forty or fifty persons; and that while he was sitting with his friends there, several persons of his acquaintance came in to them at different times, and took notice of the numbers of persons they had seen in the street armed in the above manner. About half an hour after eight the bells rung, which and his company took to be for fire; but they were told by the landlord of the house that it was to collect the mob. Mr. Gillespie upon this resolved to go home, and in his way met numbers of people who were running past him, of whom many were armed with clubs and sticks, and some with other weapons. At the same time a number of people passed by him with two fire-engines, as if there had been a fire in the town. But they were soon told that there was no fire, but that the people were going to fight the soldiers, upon which they immediately quitted the fire-engines, and swore they would go to their assistance. All this happened before the soldiers near the custom-house fired their muskets, which was not till half an hour after nine o'clock; and it that the inhabitants had formed, and were preparing to execute, a design of attacking the soldiers on that evening.

On March 27 the eight soldiers, Captain Preston, and four civilians who were in the Customs House and were alleged to have fired shots, were all indicted for murder. Bostonians, however, continued to be hostile to the troops and their dependents. General Gage, convinced the troops were doing more harm than good, ordered the 29th Regiment out of the province in May. Governor Hutchinson took advantage of the ongoing high tensions to orchestrate delays of the trials until later in the year.