I adore historic maps. I have 5 on my walls downstairs, mostly from the 1800s. When I go to London in the summer, I will be keeping my eyes open for more…

However, here in Boston we have a great resource for people who love to drool over maps:

 

This collection is simply amazing and many of the maps are digitized and available for printing or purchasing. Seeing as how this past Thursday was the 245th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, I figured this map was great for today.

On the night of March 5, 1770, shots fired out at the corner of King and Queen Street.  8 British soldiers reacted to projectiles which were thrown by colonists who were angry about so many things. They were angry about a boy being killed the previous month. They were angry about jobs going away. They were angry about the taxes that the Parliament attempted to (sometimes successfully) level upon them. And they were angry that no one seemed to listen. 5 men would be killed that night, 6 others wounded.

Paul Revere (who was not at the event) would make this item for the court case of the soldiers that would happen in October. This item shows the general location of the soldiers (the 0s with lines for muskets) and the men killed. One telling thing about this item is that the men killed are shown as people, while the troops are not.

Seen as one of the turning points of the pre-war, the Boston Massacre gave us some of the best propaganda ever seen in colonial America and blood on the streets to rally behind.

 

Want to see the higher resolution of this map? Check it out here at the Boston Public Library.