{"data":{"description":"A behind-the-scenes look at the Boston Massacre and Paul Revere's most famous engraving.","title":"Boston Massacre","post_type":"page","content":"\u003ch2 style=\"color: #ad8431;\"\u003eA Behind-the-Scenes Look At Paul Revere's Most Famous Engraving\u003c/h2\u003e\r\nWhen \u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/videos/paul-revere-messenger-revolution/\"\u003ePaul Revere\u003c/a\u003e first began selling his color prints of \"The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street\" in Boston, he was doing what any like-minded patriot with his talents in 1770 would have done. Only, Paul Revere did it faster and more expeditiously than anyone else, including two other artist-engravers who also issued prints of the Massacre that year.\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eTwenty-one days before — on the night of March 5, 1770 — five men had been shot to death in Boston town by British soldiers. Precipitating the event known as the \u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/milestone-events/boston-massacre/account-boston-massacre/\"\u003eBoston Massacre\u003c/a\u003e was a mob of men and boys taunting a sentry standing guard at the city's customs house. When other British soldiers came to the sentry's support, a free-for-all ensued and shots were fired into the crowd.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e Four died on the spot and a fifth died after four days. Six others were wounded.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e The presence of British troops in Boston had long been a sore point among Boston's radical politicians. Paul Revere wasted no time in capitalizing on the Massacre to highlight British tyranny and stir up anti-British sentiment among his fellow colonists. As you will see, Revere's historic engraving is long on political propaganda and short on accuracy or aesthetics.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"divimgright\" style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #990000;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/boston-massacre/massacre\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"alignleft wp-image-6526 size-full\" src=\"/images/earlyamerica/massacre1.jpg\" alt=\"Paul Revere's color print of the Boston Massacre\" width=\"263\" height=\"302\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eNotice how the British Grenadiers are shown standing in a straight line shooting their rifles in a regular volley, whereas when the disturbance actually erupted both sides were belligerent and riotous.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eNotice also that Revere's engraving shows a blue sky. Only a wisp of a moon suggests that the riot occurred after nine o'clock on a cold winter night.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eNotice too the absence of snow and ice on the street, while \u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/milestone-events/boston-massacre/black-patriots-during-revolution/\"\u003eCrispus Attucks\u003c/a\u003e — a black man lying on the ground closest to the British soldiers — is shown to be white. As an aside, it should be noted that as a result of his death in the Boston Massacre, Crispus Attucks would emerge as the most famous of all the black men to fight in the cause of the Revolution, and become its first martyr.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eDocumentation has come to light over the years revealing details on the other Boston Massacre paintings. Revere copied engraver Henry Pelham's drawings of the Massacre, produced his own engraving, and three weeks after the occurrence was advertising his prints for sale in Boston's newspapers. By the time Pelham's prints hit the street, Revere's print had flooded the market. A third engraving was executed by Jonathan Mulliken, who also issued prints depicting the event. Except for a number of minor differences, all three prints appear alike.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e In his rush to produce his engraving Revere employed the talents of Christian Remick to colorize the print. Remick's choice of colors is simple yet effective. Notice the use of red for the British uniforms and the blood. The other colors — blue, green, brown and black — all contribute to make this print what is arguably the most famous in America.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e Few historians would deny that the Boston Massacre proved to be a milestone in America's road to independence. By popularizing the tragic event, Paul Revere's print became \"the first powerful influence in forming an outspoken anti-British public opinion,\" one which the revolutionary leaders had almost lost hope of achieving.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ctable style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\r\n\u003ctbody\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"hr\" style=\"color: #990000;\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/rare-images/events/\"\u003eSee images of the Boston Massacre and other Early American Historical Events!\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/enlargement-paul-reveres-engraving-boston-massacre/\"\u003eSee an enlargement of Paul Revere's historic color print\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/world-early-america/famous-obits/boston-massacre-obituary/\"\u003eRead the account of the Boston Massacre as printed in the pages of The Boston Gazette and Country Journal\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/milestone-events/boston-massacre/account-boston-massacre-2/\"\u003eRead the text version of the newspaper account of the Boston Massacre\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/milestone-events/boston-massacre/account-boston-massacre/\"\u003eRead the actual obituary of the slain colonists\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\r\n\u003c/ul\u003e\r\n\u003c/td\u003e\r\n\u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003c/tbody\u003e\r\n\u003c/table\u003e\r\n\u0026nbsp;\r\n\u003cdiv style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e","menu":[{"path":"lives-early-america","title":"Famous Lives","submenu":[{"path":"lives-early-america/autobiography-benjamin-franklin","title":"Autobiography of Ben Franklin"},{"path":"lives-early-america/ramsays-life-washington","title":"Ramsay's The Life of Washington"},{"path":"lives-early-america/adventures-col-daniel-boone","title":"The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boone"},{"path":"lives-early-america/true-story-paul-revere","title":"The True Story of Paul Revere"},{"path":"world-early-america/famous-obits","title":"Famous Obits"},{"path":"portrait","title":"Portraits"},{"path":"rare-images/last-men-revolution","title":"The Last Men of the Revolution"}]},{"path":"freedom-documents","title":"Freedom Documents","submenu":[{"path":"freedom-documents/bill-rights","title":"Bill of Rights"},{"path":"freedom-documents/declaration-independence","title":"Declaration of Independence"},{"path":"freedom-documents/u-s-constitution","title":"The U.S. Constitution"}]},{"path":"world-early-america","title":"World of Early America","submenu":[{"path":"bookmarks","title":"Early American Bookmarks"},{"path":"world-early-america/famous-obits","title":"Famous Obits"},{"path":"firsts","title":"Firsts!"},{"path":"rare-images/maps","title":"Maps"},{"path":"rare-images","title":"Rare Images"},{"path":"music1","title":"Music"},{"path":"writings","title":"The Writings of Early America"}]},{"path":"boston-massacre","title":"Boston Massacre"},{"path":"milestone-events","title":"Milestones"},{"path":"early-america-review","title":"The Review"},{"path":"home/teachers-students","title":"Teachers"},{"path":"sitemap","title":"Sitemap"}]},"success":true}