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Primary sourceBook1770

A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston

James Bowdoin, Joseph Warren, Samuel Pemberton · 1770

A 1770 pamphlet produced by Boston's town committee describing the Boston Massacre, shaped by the radical politics Samuel Adams led.

This pamphlet was produced by the radical Boston committee that Adams led, showing how Patriots shaped the massacre's public story.

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Solid black image with white call-number text in the upper left reading 'E 215 .4 .B75' and a white Library of Congress label with a barcode, the number 00005705010, and a red circular stamp in the lower left.
Subjects: Boston Massacre, 1770

About this source

What it is

This pamphlet was published in 1770 under the authority of the Boston town meeting, written principally by James Bowdoin along with Samuel Pemberton and Joseph Warren. It described the Boston Massacre and events leading up to it, based on more than ninety depositions taken afterward. Copies are held by the Library of Congress and the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Why it matters

The pamphlet presented the shooting as an unprovoked attack on peaceful colonists and was probably the most influential account of the massacre at the time. It came out of Boston's radical town politics, the same political world that Samuel Adams led and shaped, showing how Patriots used print to control the story of events against British soldiers and officials.

Look closer

  • Why would the town meeting appoint a committee to write an official account instead of letting newspapers report freely?
  • What does relying on depositions suggest about how the writers tried to make their account convincing?
  • Whose voice is missing from a one-sided account like this one?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Samuel Adams on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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