How did the colonists react to the Boston Massacre?

(March 5, 1770)
made an already volatile situation worse. It was significant because it was the first bloodshed
in a conflict that eventually produced a full-scale war. The events that led to the shootings
are in dispute. But five colonists died that day or afterwards from their wounds. British
Captain Thomas Preston and his soldiers were arrested.

Both sides publicized
their views of the . Preston wrote about his perspective from jail. The Boston
Gazette described the event as "a horrid massacre." Paul Revere made an
accusatory engraving of the incident. There was a town meeting which demanded the withdrawal of
all British troops, and they were relocated to Boston Harbor.

In April,
Parliament repealed almost all of the Townshend duties. Although London had seemingly given in
after the massacre, it would prove to be a temporary respite. The Boston Tea Party took place
just three years later, and war erupted five years later.

Preston and all but
two of his men were acquitted. The two found guilty had their thumbs branded. They had been ably
defended in court by John Adamswho would become the second president of the United
States.