Document 5.8 Paul Revere, Etching of the Boston Massacre, 1770

Paul Revere | Etching of the Boston Massacre, 1770

Published three weeks after the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere’s famous etching of the event stirred anti-British sentiment among the colonists. Revere was not at the Customs House on March 5 and largely copied this image from the engraving of another artist, Henry Pelham. Revere’s etching depicts an organized line of British soldiers firing into a crowd of unarmed colonists. At the time of the Boston Massacre, Revere was a prominent silversmith and a member of the Sons of Liberty.

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Library of Congress