On March 5 , 1770 , a large crowd gathered around a group of British soldiers . The crowd grew threatening , throwing snowballs , rocks , and debris at them . One soldier was clubbed and fell . There was no order to fire , but the soldiers fired into the crowd anyway . They hit 11 people ; three civilians died at the scene of the shooting , and two died after the incident . The event quickly came to be called the Boston Massacre . The soldiers were tried and acquitted ( defended by John Adams ) , but the widespread descriptions soon began to turn colonial sentiment against the British . This , in turn , began a downward spiral in the relationship between Britain and the Province of Massachusetts
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
American Revolution