By early 1770, Boston had become a powder keg of revolutionary radicalism. Only a match was needed to blow up relations between the city and King George’s government in London.
On the cold evening of March 5, that match was lit. Caught up in an argument, a British guard outside the Custom House struck an apprentice with his rifle butt. Soon, a mob had assembled, small at first, then growing into a crowd of several hundred. Officer of the day Capt. Thomas Preston brought out seven soldiers as reinforcements. By then, the mob was hurling curses and insults like “lobsterbacks” at the soldiers, along with stones, chunks of ice, snowballs, and sticks. The soldiers then responded by firing their muskets at their attackers.
