The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770 between eight and nine in the evening. This was a fight between the colonists and the British soldiers. There are many different accounts of exactly what happened that night including "Captain Thomas Preston's Account" and an "Anonymous Account" (thought to be written by Samuel Adams). .
Samuel Adams and Thomas Preston's account differ greatly on how the dispute started between the colonists and British. For instance, Adams states that at "about nine o'clock of the fifth of March" soldiers appeared with bayonets. A soldier was using "foul language" toward a "number of boys" and "in consequence of his pushing at them with his bayonet, threw snowballs at him." In other words, the soldiers were attacking these boys with bayonets and in self defense the boys began throwing snowballs and twigs at them. On the contrary, Preston claims that "on Monday night about 8 o'clock two soldiers were attacked and beat." He states he "heard them use the most cruel and horrid threats against the troops." As a result, colonists then made an "attack on the men by a great number of heavy clubs and snowballs." When the reader analyzes Adams" and Preston's side of the story it is apparent that Adams is closer to the real event because he does not use adjectives with a negative connotation. The British were also more experienced fighters and had a great advantage with the bayonets. Preston also over exaggerates the number of colonists saying there was "4 or 5000 people." Adam's and Preston's contrasting explanations of the starting of the Boston Massacre make it difficult to understand what really occurred that day. .
A controversy that has been argued over for many years was whether Preston told his soldiers to fire. Preston says on his "asking the soldiers why they fired without orders, they said they heard the word fire and supposed it came from me.