Existing comment:
Soldiers on Trial
British troops were sent to Boston in late 1768 to support the civil authorities and were themselves subject to the jurisdiction of the local courts. All eight soldiers involved in the Massacre were jailed and tried for murder. Although public opinion called for an almost immediate adjudication, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson pushed the first trial to the fall. The soldiers were defended by John Adams, who later became the second President of the United States, and all were acquitted of first degree murder on grounds of self-mob rule had been maintained in Boston, and that even the hated redcoats could receive a fair trial.
The Trial of William Wemms... for the Murder of Crispus Attucks... Boston: J. Fleeming, 1770. |