(BOSTON MASSACRE) | A very early report on the Boston Massacre, in The Providence Gazette; and Country Journal, Vol. VII, No. 322. Providence: Printed by John Carter, from Saturday, March 3, to Saturday, March 10, 1770

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

(BOSTON MASSACRE) 

A very early report on the Boston Massacre, in The Providence Gazette; and Country Journal, Vol. VII, No. 322. Providence: Printed by John Carter, from Saturday, March 3, to Saturday, March 10, 1770 

Folio, 4 pages (15 1/4 x 10 in.; 387 x 255 mm) on a full sheet of laid paper, preserving deckle on all margins, woodcut British royal arms in masthead, text in three columns; a few light stains, disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot.

The Boston Massacre: "the barbarous and inhuman Murders committed by the Soldiery at Boston on Monday Night last": an up-to-the-moment report on one of the galvanizing events in the prelude to the American Revolution. After describing recent skirmishes between Bostonians and British soldiers, the Gazette relates that one such brawl resulted in "One Preston, a Captain in the 20th Regiment, being the Officer for the Night, immediately ordered out a Party of Soldiers, and dividing them into two Ranks, commanded eight of them to fire on the Inhabitants, when three Persons were killed on the Spot, and eight wounded, one of whom is since dead, and 'tis thought the Wounds of two others will prove mortal." Five patriots were, in fact, killed.

The paper also reports the civil unrest in the immediate aftermath of the Massacre, including Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson's attempt to calm the crowd by promising an immediate and fair investigation and the withdrawal of the British Troops to Castle Island.