People in Massachusetts learned in September 1768 that troops were on the way . Samuel Adams organized an emergency , extralegal convention of towns and passed resolutions against the imminent occupation of Boston , but on 1 October 1768 , the first of four regiments of the British Army began disembarking in Boston , and the Customs Commissioners returned to town . The " Journal of Occurrences " , an anonymously written series of newspaper articles , chronicled clashes between civilians and soldiers during the military occupation of Boston , apparently with some exaggeration . Tensions rose after Christopher Seider , a Boston teenager , was killed by a customs employee on 22 February 1770 . Although British soldiers were not involved in that incident , resentment against the occupation escalated in the days that followed , resulting in the killing of five civilians in the Boston Massacre of 5 March 1770 . After the incident , the troops were withdrawn to Castle William
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
Townshend Acts