Visual Descriptions

An engraving of the Boston Massacre depicts the moment after the shooting. In the bottom right quarter of the engraving, seven British soldiers stand in a firing line. They are dressed in bright red uniforms with gold accents, white trousers, black boots, and black tricorn hats. Four of the soldiers’ faces are lit, three are cast in shadow, and all seven appear resolute. Large white clouds of gunsmoke billow behind and around them. The soldiers’ commanding officer stands behind them, dressed in a red coat, white trousers, black boots, and a black tricorn hat. He holds a saber up with his right arm, pointing toward the sky. The soldiers point bayoneted muskets at a crowd of over 20 Bostonians directly across from them in the bottom left quarter of the engraving. The crowd is dressed in blue, brown, green, and gray jackets, waistcoats, and trousers. Many are wearing black shoes and black tricorn hats. One of the men in the crowd holds up his left arm, imploring the soldiers to stop. Five men in the crowd have been wounded. Three of these men lay on the ground with red blood streaming from their heads and torsos, their faces pained with anguish. A small dog stands motionless by the feet of one of these men, facing the soldiers. The other two wounded men are being carried away from the carnage by others while bleeding from their stomachs and heads, their expressions are blank. It is a dramatic scene.

In the background behind the soldiers is a row of five three-story buildings. The right-most of these buildings features two signs, one that reads “Butcher’s Hall” and another below which reads “Custom House.” A lone musket barrel pokes out from one of the windows beneath the “Butcher’s Hall” sign, emitting a cloud of white gunsmoke as it fires at the crowd. The gunman cannot be seen. In the background behind the crowd is a similar row of three-story buildings, all cast in shadow. A small crescent moon hangs silently in a clear sky above these buildings. In the center of the background, behind the cloud of gunsmoke, stands the Old State House. Its second floor balcony, third floor clock, and two-story cupola or tower witness the chaos unfolding below. Behind the Old State House to the left stands the First Church building, topped with a tall pointed white steeple supported by seven slender columns. 

At the top of the Old State House cupola sits a gold weathervane, which extends beyond the top edge of the engraving into the title of the image: The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment. Beneath the engraving is a poem condemning the soldiers and lamenting the incident. The names of those killed in the shooting—Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, and Patrick Carr— as well as two of the six who were wounded—Christopher Monk and John Clark—are listed beneath the poem.