Female Voices of the Boston Massacre

“I ask’d Centry what noise was. People coming from Town House said there is the Centry there is the bloody backed Son of a Bitch…They keep coming along throw Oyster Shells chunks of wood and Snow Balls at Centry, and beat him from Box to Custom House Steps."

- Jane Whitehouse, witness to the Boston Massacre.

Tomorrow is the 253rd anniversary of the Boston Massacre and since March is Women's History Month, I figured that today's blog would be a good way to try and connect the two in some way. Even though there were many witnesses to that event which occured on a frigid, snowy evening in March of 1770, women are clearly not present in the historical records in terms of eyewitness accounts of the massacre. It's worth noting that in terms of population, women outnumbered men in pre-revolutionary Boston and yet firsthand accounts of the Boston Massacre by women are a rarity.

Before I continue, we should first discuss what exactly the Boston Massacre was, who was involved, and the aftermath of this unfortunate incident in American history.

The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on the night of March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston. It began as a street fight between American colonists and one British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. In the end, five colonists were dead. The Boston Massacre had a major impact on the relationship between Britain and the American colonists. It only served to fan the flames of resentment that the colonists already felt towards the Crown: they were worn out by British rule and the unfair taxes placed on the Thirteen American Colonies. Inspired to fight for independence, five years after the Boston Massacre, the American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775.

The morning after the Boston Massacre, eight soldiers, their commanding officer (Captain Thomas Preston), and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder. Hidden Side Note: the men were defended by future U.S. President John Adams. Our second president, John Adams would serve from 1797 to 1801.

In the weeks following the massacre, dozens of men from all ranks of colonial society gave depositions about what they had seen. But if you dig deep enough you'll find, buried in the sands of time, the observations of only two female eyewitnesses to the Boston Massacre that survive to this day. These women were Jane Whitehouse and Elizabeth Avery.

Please click the link below to learn more about Jane Whitehouse and Elizabeth Avery and what exactly they saw during the Boston Massacre:

The above article, "Women Speaking Softly: Female Voices of the Boston Massacre", was written by Katie Turner Getty.