The Biographical Dictionary of America/Attucks, Crispus

ATTUCKS, Crispus, martyr, was born in the vicinity of Cochituate lake, Framingham, Mass., about 1723. His ancestors were probably Natick Indians, who had intermarried with negro slaves. He was a man of imposing stature, being six feet and two inches tall. March 5, 1770, because of real or fancied insolence from a detachment of soldiers, commanded by Captain Preston of the 29th regiment, a party of men and boys, armed with sticks and missiles, and led by Crispus Attucks, bore down upon the "redcoats," who were stationed in front of the custom house on King street. Believing that the soldiers would not dare to fire, the mob pushed aside the muskets with sticks, threw stones and snow-balls, and filled the air with taunts of cowardice. A soldier was knocked down, and on regaining his position, he saw Attucks, the black giant, armed with a club, and heard the war-whoop inherited from his Indian ancestors. It was scarcely possible for a human being to endure this without retaliating, and the soldier raised his musket and fired, killing him. Then other soldiers fired into the mob, and several men were killed or wounded. Three days later the four victims of the massacre were borne with unparalleled pomp to the burial-ground, where they were placed in one vault. The shops were closed, and all the bells were ordered to be tolled. Inaccurate and inflamed accounts of the affair were spread throughout the colonies, and Crispus Attucks, the disorderly slave, was heralded as a martyred patriot. Patrick Carr, who died of his wounds on the 14th, was buried on the 17th in the same vault. Later Captain Preston and the soldiers were brought to trial for murder. John Adams defended them. Two were convicted for manslaughter and slightly branded; the others were acquitted. In 1888 a ten thousand dollar monument was erected on Boston common, to the memory of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Samuel Gray, and Patrick Carr, "the first martyrs in the cause of American liberty, having been shot by the British soldiers, March 5, 1770." See the article on Attucks in the American Historical Record for 1872, and George Bancroft's "History of the United States."