Between 1766 and 1768 , Dalrymple was in Halifax , Nova Scotia . In 1768 , he was placed in command of a detachment of two regiments sent to Boston , Massachusetts , to support embattled royal officials who were having trouble enforcing the unpopular Townshend Acts . Troops in his command ( although he was not directly involved ) were involved in the Boston Massacre , in which five civilians were killed when those troops fired into a crowd . Amid continuing hostility , Dalrymple acceded to the request of Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson to remove his troops to Castle William , an island fortress in Boston harbour
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
William Dalrymple (British Army officer)