爱国者和保皇派都认识到，对大屠杀的指责可能会助长或扑灭殖民地的革命情绪. Both groups acted immediately to capitalize on this opportunity. 随着硝烟散去，达尔林普尔中校忙着搜集能支持士兵们的证词. 英国律师弗朗西斯·马塞雷斯(Francis 微波激射器)为士兵们的证词撰写了一段叙述. 微波激射器, 他对负号的代数用法的争议性观点以及他在18世纪60年代担任魁北克总检察长时的工作使他闻名于世, 访问该账户的目的是消除愤怒，并恳请读者合理地考虑这一事件. His tone betrays an air of superiority over the hotheaded patriots, especially "these sons of liberty and well-disposed persons (as they stile themselves),，他似乎试图在这个层面上与读者(最初主要是英语读者)建立利记手机官网. 与此同时, a committee of three prominent colonial figures comprised of James Bowdoin, Samuel Pemberton, and Joseph Warren composed the narrative accompanying the patriots' testimonies. 

马塞勒斯和殖民者的努力结果是对同一事件的两种截然不同的描述A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston which was sympathetic to the patriot cause, and A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance at Boston in New England which favored the British soldiers' view. 在大屠杀发生后不到一个月，这两组证词都被送往英国国王审阅, with the British Fair Account arriving first.

Compounding Tensions

The narratives in each pamphlet derive from depositions of soldiers, 过路人, and prominent community members; 96 testimonies are reproduced in the patriots' Short Narrative, and 31 in the Fair Account. 两本小册子都承认，由于印花税和驻扎法案不受欢迎，波士顿的紧张局势很高, among other factors. 在大屠杀发生的几天前，在波士顿的索道上发生的口角也被两份报告引用为一个重要的先行者, 一个造绳人建议路过的士兵，如果他需要工作，就打扫他的“必需品”. 这自然导致了一场争吵，并迅速升级为一场斗殴，吸引了双方的增援. The patriots' pamphlet describes a vengeful and cruel group of British soldiers, 从登陆的第一天起，他就因对长期受苦的波士顿人随意施暴而臭名昭著, who plot to murder innocent colonists as payback for the altercation on the ropewalks. 那些同情英国士兵事业的人声称情况正好相反——绳索制造者和他们的同伴们对绳索行走事件的反应是煽动一群殖民者, 他们都对士兵的出现感到不满，并抓住一切机会斥责他们，给他们带来不便, to attack a sentry posted at the Custom House.

"Fire, and be damned"

From here the depositions greatly diverge from one another. 一些人声称，海关哨兵离开了他的岗位，随意袭击了一个男孩，因为他听到这个男孩说英国士兵的坏话. 一些人发誓说，他们听到成群的殖民者聚集在国王街时在街上大喊:“谋杀, kill all the dogs: for we will have no commissioners nor soldiers in Boston.另一些人则听到一群群的英国士兵互相嘲笑说:“士兵不应该被居民践踏。, but would know before morning, whether they or the inhabitants were to be masters." Somehow, a mob formed in front of the Custom House. 在那里的唯一哨兵，被投掷的碎片和污言秽语，要求增援. When Captain 普雷斯顿 and a group of soldiers arrived, both accounts confirm that there were multiple shouts of "fire"—some, 取笑地, from mob aggressors and one, the patriots claim, from 普雷斯顿 himself.

Both pamphlets acknowledge the unfortunate loss of life. The soldiers' Fair Account describes the casualties with an air of grave simplicity, after describing in detail the mob's frenzy and 普雷斯顿's vain efforts to restore peace. Likely with the intention of evoking an emotional response, the patriots' account goes into a hauntingly technical degree of detail, 列出了每个人的伤势，甚至描述了子弹射入他们身体的位置和角度. The soldiers' accounts plead self-defense, 说他们的行动是必要的，“为了保卫他们有责任保卫的员额”.殖民者宣称，他们从海关大楼楼上的窗户里瞥见了更多的火枪在闪闪发光, pointing to a conspiracy. After reading testimony from both sides, even the number of shots fired is unclear.

A War of Words

这一系列令人生畏的矛盾证明了波士顿大屠杀在我国早期历史上是一个极其重要的事件, we may never uncover the full truth of how it happened. The voices and intentions of those who gave depositions, penned narratives, and participated in the trials are too much to unpack without reliable evidence. Some accounts even contradict themselves. One deposition, that of Bostonian merchant Richard Palmes, appears in both the Fair Account 和 Short Narrative. After Palmes was called to appear in court as a witness during the Massacre trials, his testimony also appeared in the printed court notes for the trial of William Wemms. 在帕尔梅斯本人读了他的证词的出版版本后，他提交了一篇文章给 Boston Gazette to correct what he saw as a misleading transcription of his words. Although similar, 这些说法都不完全相同——尽管这些差异很可能是人为错误，也可能是故意编造的. The only other account that appears in both pamphlets is that of Thomas Greenwood, a Customs House official. While it stands alone in the Fair Account, the patriots pick it apart in the Short Narrative, 在一系列冗长的脚注中，格林伍德利用每一个支持忠诚的断言来妖魔化士兵.

这两本小册子争论的关键不仅仅在于普雷斯顿是否命令士兵们在这场磨难的高潮时开枪, but 为什么 and by whom the first acts of aggression were committed. 这已经不是殖民者和英国士兵第一次在波士顿街头发生冲突了, and resentment between the groups was building long before the events of 5 March 1770. 双方收集的证词的数量和内容的多样性表明，双方都是多么不顾一切地妖魔化对方, be it through truth, 小说, or some combination.

In Boston's Massacre, Eric Hinderaker calls the contents of the two pamphlets "a war of words.“尽管爱国者和英国士兵立即提供了他们的证词, the actual trials did not begin until months later, the first of which was 雷克斯v. 普雷斯顿 on 5 October 1770. 最终, 然而, 可以说，波士顿大屠杀的真相最终与爱国者们为自己的利益所做的努力所产生的热情相比，显得微不足道. In fact, Hiller Zobel argues in The Boston Massacre that the pleas for consideration of the British soldiers' predicament in the Fair Account were too little, too late in terms of swaying public opinion in Boston.

Alexandra Bush, Digital Production and Web Design Specialist