Thomas Preston (1722) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

officer, a captain who served in Boston in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...

. He commanded troops in the

Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre (known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing t ...

in 1770 and was tried for murder, but he was acquitted. Historians have never settled whether he ordered his men to fire on the colonists. Preston was originally from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

; his people were among the Protestants settled there.

Boston Massacre

Preston was a captain of the 29th Regiment of Foot, part of the British garrison in Boston under the overall command of

Thomas Gage General Thomas Gage (10 March 1718/192 April 1787) was a British Army general officer and colonial official best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as British commander-in-chief in the early days of th ...

. He was present at the

(known as the Incident on King Street by the British) on 5 March 1770, when British troops fired on colonists of the city, after an aggressive mob had confronted the troops and thrown snowballs, clubs, and rocks at them. Captain Thomas Preston showed up on the scene to help the other troops. Charges were brought against him and other soldiers, but he was acquitted in a trial held in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Future

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

was his attorney. An eyewitness report by John Tudor, who was a merchant, says that Preston gave the order to fire, but many historians believe that he did not. Two of his men, Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy, were found guilty of manslaughter. They " prayed clergy" to avoid the death sentence. Instead, they were branded on the thumb with a hot iron, the letter "M" for murder. Captain Preston was tried separately. The main issue was whether or not he had called the order to fire, he was found not guilty. After his trial, Preston retired from the army. He reportedly settled in Ireland. Adams later recalled seeing him in London in the 1780s, when Adams was serving there as US Minister to Britain.

In popular culture

* In the 2008 American miniseries, ''

'', Preston was played by British actor

Ritchie Coster Ritchie Coster (born 1 July 1967) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Dietrich Banning in '' The Tuxedo'' (2002), the Chechen in ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), Elias Kassar in '' Blackhat'' (2015), Mayor Austin Chessani o ...

. * In the 2015 History Channel miniseries, ''Sons of Liberty'', Preston was portrayed by Shane Taylor.

Bibliography

** Hibbert, Christopher. ''Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution Through British Eyes''. Avon Books, 1990. ** Zobel, Hiller (1234). ''The Boston Massacre.'' New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-00606-3. ** "Boston Massacre Soldiers." ''West's Encyclopedia of American Law'', edited by Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2005, pp. 85–86. ''Gale In Context: U.S. History'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3437700593/UHIC?u=tel_a_pstcc&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=0bf9e4cb. Accessed 28 Feb. 2022. ** Tudor, John. "An Eyewitness Describes the Boston Massacre (1770)." ''The American Revolution'', Primary Source Media, 1999. American Journey. ''Gale In Context: U.S. History'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2153000060/UHIC?u=tel_a_pstcc&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=076c8cba. Accessed 28 Feb. 2022. ** Linder, Douglas. "The Boston Massacre Trials: An Account." ''Available at SSRN 1021327'' (2007). ** Reid, John Phillip. "A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre Trials." ''The American Journal of Legal History'' 18.3 (1974): 189–207. *# ^ Reid, John Phillip. "A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre Trials." ''The American Journal of Legal History'' 18.3 (1974): 189–207. *# ^ Tudor, John. "An Eyewitness Describes the Boston Massacre (1770)." ''The American Revolution'', Primary Source Media, 1999. American Journey. ''Gale In Context: U.S. History'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ2153000060/UHIC?u=tel_a_pstcc&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=076c8cba. Accessed 28 Feb. 2022. *# ^ "Boston Massacre Soldiers." ''West's Encyclopedia of American Law'', edited by Shirelle Phelps and Jeffrey Lehman, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2005, pp. 85–86. ''Gale In Context: U.S. History'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3437700593/UHIC?u=tel_a_pstcc&sid=bookmark-UHIC&xid=0bf9e4cb. Accessed 28 Feb. 2022. *# ^ Linder, Douglas. "The Boston Massacre Trials: An Account." ''Available at SSRN 1021327'' (2007).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Thomas Year of birth uncertain 18th-century deaths 29th Regiment of Foot officers Worcestershire Regiment officers People acquitted of murder Irish officers in the British Army Boston Massacre 18th-century Irish people