The Four Americans In Paul Revere's The Bloody Massacre

801 Words4 Pages

The Boston Massacre of the winter in March 5, 1770 was a dark time in the history of Colonial America. It was believed to be started when drunken colonist tampered, and invoked with a soldier, sharing insults, and exchanging dirty looks. The struggle quickly came out of hand as more and more colonists joined the predicament. As more colonists joined, the numbers of civilians reached the hundred. As the soldiers were outnumbered, 100:6. The colonists began to throw snowballs and sticks at the soldiers, and that is when the action truly begun. Finally, the soldiers shot...killing 4 Americans. But one thing is unsure. Who made the soldiers fire the first shot, the commander of the soldiers, or the colonists? The Colonists of Boston, Massachusetts …show more content…

Revere also showed the colonists as scared, surprised and were filled with fear as each of the guns fired. This was made to turn the colonists to hate the British, and Parliament. This is not true. Revere left out major points. He did not show the colonists throwing snowballs, sticks, and etc. He only engraved what he wanted to see. Additionally, Revere was not at the event. In “The Bloody Massacre” the British soldiers were the aggressors, and the colonists were made to look helpless. This is an example of propaganda. Propaganda is an idea or myth that is widely spread that may or may not be true or reliable. In the engraving this is not reliable. Again, Revere wanted to make the engraving look as if the colonists were not the aggressors, but to make the soldiers as if they …show more content…

In the engraving. There is an image of the four coffins of the Americans who were shot and fatally killed in the events of the Boston Massacre. Crispus Attucks, James Caldwell, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr. This information is correct, these four men were killed. But in the previous article, Paul showed these four men, as well as the rest of the crowd, as helpless, and innocent. In the Massacre, these four men were likely the ones who were provoking the British soldiers to fire their guns. In the engraving in the Boston Gazette, Paul wrote that “The unhappy victims who fell in the bloody massacre the Monday evening preceding.” (Boston Gazette,1) Paul described the victims as “unhappy” and in another piece of the article as “mourned over” in a sense. But this, again, was not as it seems.There are many different views as to who ordered the first shot. Some say colonists did and others said the commander of the squadron

Open Document