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Primary sourceNewspaper article12 March 1770

Boston Gazette Report on the Boston Massacre Funeral

12 March 1770

A March 1770 newspaper clipping reporting the funeral of four Boston Massacre victims, naming Crispus Attucks.

This report names Attucks among the four victims honored at the funeral, showing his public recognition as a martyr.

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Scanned page of the Boston Gazette, March 12, 1770, reporting the funeral of Boston Massacre victims. Four coffin illustrations labeled SG, SM, JC, and CA, each with a skull and crossbones, appear beneath the printed text.
Boston Gazette, 12 March 1770. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This is a page from the Boston Gazette dated March 12, 1770, reporting on the funeral held for four men killed in the Boston Massacre a week earlier. It includes illustrations of four coffins marked with the victims' initials, including 'CA' for Crispus Attucks.

Why it matters

Published only days after Attucks's death, this report shows how quickly the town of Boston turned the victims into public martyrs. The naming of Attucks alongside Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, and James Caldwell shows he was treated as an equal in the colonists' story of the massacre, despite the racial divisions of the time.

  • Why might the newspaper print coffin images rather than just names?
  • What does the detailed description of the funeral procession tell you about public feeling at the time?
  • How does listing Attucks among the other victims affect how readers might have seen him?

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

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Hand-colored engraving of the Boston Massacre on King Street: British soldiers in red coats fire volleys through smoke at a crowd of colonists, with people wounded and dead on the ground, a church steeple and Butcher's Hall in the background, and a verse and caption printed below.Painting

Primary source

The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street

Paul Revere · 1770

A mostly black scanned cover of a book with a white Library of Congress label at bottom left showing a barcode and number 00005705010, and red stamp; top left reads E 215 .4 .B75 in white call number text.Book

Primary source

A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston

James Bowdoin, Samuel Pemberton, Joseph Warren · 1770

Scan of a newspaper column of text with four coffin illustrations in a row, each with initials (SG, SM, JC, CA), a skull and crossbones, and a skull over crossed bones. The coffins are dark with white outlines. Text above and below describes the funerals of victims of the Boston Massacre.Painting

Primary source

Four Coffins of Men Killed in the Boston Massacre

Paul Revere · 12 March 1770

Photograph of a dark gray slate headstone with a rounded top edged with small stones, in a shaded graveyard with grass and other gravestones behind it. The inscription lists the remains of Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks and Patrick Carr, victims of the Boston Massacre, March 5th 1770, interred by order of the Town of Boston. It also notes Christopher Snider, aged 12, killed February 22nd 1770, and carries partly worn lines about independence and a 1876 date.Photograph

Secondary source

Boston Massacre Victims Grave

Swampyank

Hand-colored engraving titled 'The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston, on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment.' Red-coated soldiers in a line fire volleys at a crowd before a brick meeting-house with a steeple. Smoke fills the street. Bodies lie on the ground, some in pools of red. Verse appears in columns below, and the caption reads 'Engrav'd Printed & Sold by Paul Revere.'Painting

Primary source

The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre

Henry Pelham · 1770

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