The Incident On King Street Poem by John F. McCullagh

The Incident On King Street



The air was chill and darkness fell as bells rang and the rabble gathered.
A British sentry had struck a lad; some said his jaw was shattered.
Some four hundred Bostonians were milling about his station.
Eight Redcoats, each with rifle cocked, tried to defuse the situation.
The crowd was in an ugly mood; they would not let this slide.
The soldiers were pelted with rocks and snow, but as yet no one had died.
Private Montgomery was knocked down And muttered "Damn you, Fire."
He discharged his weapon into the ground, and that shot provoked their ire.
Captain Preston never issued the command, but a ragged volley was fired.
Eleven colonists were hit, three of them expired.
The crowd in panic then dispersed, and the troop of men retired.
A black man, Crispus Atticus, was among those who had died.
The mood was tense in Boston and those troops were charged and tried.
John Adams won acquittal, he was brilliant in defense.
But the crowd still felt injustice, from then on there's been no peace.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Topic(s) of this poem: history
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
March 5,1775 AKA the Boston Massacre. If it were being reported today the AP would say an unarmed black man was killed by law enforcement.
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