Skip to main content

Boston Massacre Occured on March 5, 1770, Marking Severance of the British Empire




The Boston Massacre Monument
Tremont Street on the Boston Common
Near the Visitors Information Center and Parkman Bandstand
MBTA: Red Line to Park Street Station

Irishman Patrick Carr was one of five people shot to death in front of the Old State House on State Street on March 5, 1870 after a scuffle between colonists and British solders erupted into gunfire.  The Boston Massacre, as it became known, was the flash point for the American Revolution.  Daniel Webster said it marked "the severance of the British Empire" in the minds of the American colonists.

Little is known of Carr, except that he was an Irish immigrant in Boston and likely a Roman Catholic.  Because he was Irish, he was alleged to have been a "mob expert" by prosecutor Samuel Adams during the trial of the British soldiers who opened fire.  Ironically the soldiers were part of an Irish regiment from Dublin, led by Captain Thomas Preston, an office of the 29th Regiment of Foot.

Carr lingered for over a week and was the last of the five to die.  On his deathbed, Carr admitted that the colonists had instigated the episode, thus preventing vigilante justice from occurring.  Carr was buried on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, at the Old Granary Burying Grounds, where all five victims are buried together.

In the 1880s an effort to build a Boston Massacre Memorial to honor the victims was led by John Boyle O'Reilly, Mayor Hugh O'Brien, Patrick Collins and other Irish Bostonians.  In spite of objections from certain Bostonians who considered the five victims rabble-rousers, the memorial was built and unveiled in November 1888.  O'Reilly recited a poem for the occasion entitled Crispus Attucks, a reference to the Black man who was among the five victims. 

The bronze monument, created by artist Robert Adolf Kraus, features a trampled British crown, chains of bondage, an American flag and an eagle.

Also of Interest:

The actual site of the massacre itself is in front of the Old State House at the corner of State and Washington Streets.  A medallion of cobblestones on the sidewalk marks the spot.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Boston Celtics : The Story Behind Their Irish Green Theme

Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1959 (This story was updated in March 2024) Many people wonder why the  Boston Celtics  wear shamrocks on their green uniforms and have a giant leprechaun smoking a cigar as their team logo. And why is the team mascot a guy named Lucky who looks like he stepped out of a box of Lucky Charms? According to the Boston Celtic’s official web site, the name came about in 1946 when owner Walter Brown started the team. He and his public relations guy, Howie McHugh, were throwing out potential nicknames, including the Whirlwinds, Unicorns and Olympics. It was Brown who had the epiphany, saying, “Wait, I’ve got it – the Celtics. The name has a great basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York (1920s). And Boston is full of Irishman. We’ll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics.” Red Auerbach , the now legendary coach of the early Celtics, then commissioned his brother Zang, a graphic d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Boston Mayors of Irish Descent, 1885-2021

(Originally published in 2013, this post was updated in 2021) Here are the Mayors of Boston Claiming Irish Heritage:  Hugh O’Brien 1885–88 Patrick Collins 1902–05 John F. Fitzgerald 1906–07, 1910–13 James M. Curley 1914–17, 1922–25, 1930–33, 1946–49 Frederick W. Mansfield 1934–37 Maurice Tobin 1938–41, 1941-44 John Kerrigan 1945 John B. Hynes 1950–59 John Collins 1960–68 Kevin H. White 1968–83 Raymond L. Flynn 1984–93 Martin J. Walsh   2014- 2021 The lineage of Boston mayors with Irish ancestry dates back to 1885, when Irish immigrant Hugh O'Brien of County Cork assumed office and became the first Irish-born mayor elected in Boston, serving four one-year terms (1885-88).   O'Brien was followed by Irish-born Patrick Collins (1902-05), also of County Cork, who died in office in 1905. He was replaced by John F. Fitzgerald, who became the first American-born mayor of Irish descent, serving two terms.  A noteworthy...
Post a Comment
Read more

Visit these Public Memorials to John Boyle O'Reilly throughout Massachusetts

  Born 180 years ago on June 28, 1844, John Boyle O’Reilly helped shape the history or Ireland and America in the late 19th century in powerful ways. Today, O'Reilly’s stature as a seminal figure in Irish and Irish-American history is particularly evident in his beloved birthplace of Dowth, County Meath; in Freemantle, Australia where he was imprisoned; and indeed, throughout the Irish Diaspora.  O'REILLY LANDMARKS IN MASSACHUSETTS O’Reilly remains popular in Boston, New Bedford, Hull and Springfield where there is a selection of memorials and plaques, parks and city squares, library collections and Irish organizations honoring O’Reilly’s memory. In Boston, the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial at the corner of Boylston Street and The Fens, not far from Fenway Park, was unveiled in 1896 by famed Concord sculptor Daniel French. The Memorial is part of Boston’s Irish Heritage Trail. In Charlestown, O’Reilly lived at 34 Winthrop Street, where there is a plaque in his honor. In 1988 t...
Post a Comment
Read more