Supporting Paragraph On April 19th, 1775, on Lexington Green, early in the morning, gun fire had broken out between the colonists and British soldiers. This specific battle was one of the first leading up to the Revolutionary war. Being one of the battles leading to the Revolution, it is important for historians to know who had fired the first shot, to this day there are speculations, but nobody knows for sure. Many people believe the British fired the first shot, but many people also argue the colonists did. The documents “the Minutemen’s statement” and John Barker’s diary are both different sources from different perspectives therefore people might disagree. After reading John Barker’s diary and the Minutemen’s Statement, it is clear …show more content…
34 minutemen had sworn to this infront of three justices of the peace. This quote shows that 34 people agree and swear that the colonists had not fired until the British did first. The evidence from the testimony are reliable because it had stated they swore to these facts, and in front of officers. In addition to swearing on their words, we also know that this excerpt was a testimony and most likely took place in a courtroom and in front of three Justices of the Peace. The colonists knew consequences of exaggerating the truth, therefore it would be unreasonable to lie about what happened “While our backs were turned on the British Troops, we were fired on by therm, and a number of our men were killed and wounded”. Again, this was written just six days after the battle, and in front of three Justices of the Peace. This quote supports my argument because it shows that the 34 minutemen all agreed that their backs were turned as the British fired on them first. I trust this because if any of the minutemen did not agree with the statements, they would not have taken part in or spoke against the
Fire, damn you! Suddenly the line of British muskets exploded to flame…” Then he Battle of concord on page 278 it stated, “Suddenly there was a burst of fire, and it was not the rebel’s nit was Laurie’s’ men… The rebels fired a second time with more precision still, but then all order was gone, the scene engulfed in vast fog, shouts and screams blending with hard pops and chatter of the muskets. Too many still moving away, pursued by their own shock, the awful horror of the unexpected, leaving their own dead and wounded behind.”
He was made out to be a fool after historians realized that he has been using European tactics and methods on American land, where Indians had the home-field advantage and was familiar with their surroundings. Others blame the soldiers and others blame the colonial militia after they had mistakenly shot and killed dozens of British soldiers, as they were under the impression that the men wandering behind the trees was the French
Eye witness testimony from a British soldier states that "the colonists were acting with civil unrest and assaulted the troops with snowballs". A colonist described it as "British soldiers showing their true colors". Some stated they didn 't see the colonists
Some guns were fired at us from the first platoon.” This quote is important because, he states that the British shot first. And the British say that “ lay down your guns or we will kill you all. The colonists didn’t lay down their guns so, the British
I believe that the British soldiers were using self defense in the Boston Massacre. Through witnesses and evidence, it is proved that the British killing the colonists was an act of defending themselves. In exhibit A, the crime scene showed how the colonists threw snowballs filled with rocks and sharp things at the British. I think that the British were only firing their guns back at the colonists to save themselves from being badly hurt. I believe that the British fired their guns at the colonists back without intentions go kill, but only to protect themselves.
A group of colonists, around 200 people, where hurling snowballs filled with rocks, throwing ice, and throwing clubs at the soldier. Out of defense for their life, the soldiers fired a few shots, killing 5. Document three states… “Order quickly broke down and the frighten soldiers fired into the
In Minutemen and Their World by Robert Gross, he talks about what happened before, during and after the Revolutionary war specifically in Concord and its people. When the Revolution was happening in 1775 the average colonist wanted to join the revolution mainly because of Britain making them pay taxes and not getting representation in the British Parliament. However, the individuals from Concord who joined the war, the Minutemen, each had alternative reasons as to why they joined. Minutemen was the name given to the citizen soldiers designed to alert and protect the country of british approach.
The reality of what truly happened that night are ambiguous; some witnesses claim that Captain Thomas Preston ordered the soldiers to fire into the crowd while others say that he did not. After reviewing the testimonies given by witnesses, it is unquestionable that Captain Thomas Preston was innocent since witnesses place the Captain in the front of the soldiers, one of the soldiers is observed being hit by an object resulting in his firing of the first shot and
Historical Perspective Dialogue Patriot: African American slave Loyalist: Colonial loyalist Setting: Boston,Massachusetts Topic 1: Boston Taxation( Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, and the Tea Act) Narrative: hello and welcome to our show thanks for tuning in. Tonight on the show will be seeing the African-American slave and colonial loyalist in Boston Massachusetts talk out and discuss events that led up to the separation of America and Britain.
The next day the soldiers and Captain Preston asked Adams if he would help them. When no other lawyer would take their case, but Adams did. This shows Adams is willing to help those in need, he cares for others opinions, and will not take criticism from others. When no one would take the case for Preston and his men Adams decided to. When Preston tells Adams the story Adams is sceptical about it, but can
The New World can be navigated, and known best by those who inhabit it. Since the Patriots live, and have fought, in the colonies, they have home base, and wilderness experience advantages. They know how to use their environment to best suit their need at the time. After the battles at Lexington and Concord, when the Redcoats were retreating, minutemen shot at them from behind the cover of fences, walls, ditches, and trees. That encounter caused over 125 casualties for the British.
It’s been over 200 years since the original thirteen colonies of America fought their revolutionary war against Great Britain, in hopes of achieving their independence. We shall be going through a few areas of the Revolution, such as the military, social hierarchy, the role of men and women during the war, the colonists’ values of equality and their social contract response to the British government’s abuses, and we’ll compare these areas to the present day. The American Revolution started around April of 1775, when British redcoats and American militiamen exchanged gunshots in Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. However, that was only the beginning of the fighting; the reasons for the war date from years prior, when resistance from the
Therefore, I have proven that the Colonists should be held accountable for the first shot that fired on April, 19th 1775. Based on information documented prior to the first shot of the revolutionary war, The colonists were proven to be the angriest between the two groups. They had a reason to fire at the British first. On the other hand though, the British weren 't. They were proven to not have as much enterprise to defeat the Colonists. They were fighting only to defend themselves.
Additionally, if they sent the troops for good reasons and had good intentions for the colonies, the colonies would not be scared to declare their independence. A reason they may have worried about preserving the loyalty of the colonists is because when one nation or government has more people loyal to them, there are more taxes being issued and more money for the kingdom. This quote applies to the peoples logical sense because the colonists went to the new land searching for freedom and they see it wrong for the British to be
When the Indian police took the Native Americans to a camp near Wounded Knee, they were listening to orders and not rebelling. They gave the Europeans no reason to shoot at them. Somewhere in-between 153 to 300 Native Americans were killed (Gitlin, 2011, pg. 91). Men, women, and children were killed. None of them had done anything wrong.