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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Feelings against the British troops ran high in Boston in 1770. The fact that many English soldiers were also working as dockworkers and rope makers made them even less popular among people whose jobs they were taking. On March 5, 1770 a group of men armed with rocks and clubs began bothering two soldiers on guard duty at the Customs House. Things got worse when more troops came to help the guards. Paul Revere, the maker of this picture, was a Boston silversmith. He was also a member of the Boston Sons of Liberty and an expert on international law. His popular picture of British soldiers firing into an unarmed, peaceful crowd in Boston made Americans angry all over the colonies and made the British army still more unpopular.

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