On the Trail of Crispus Attucks

This installment of CSI: Colonial Boston starts with Boston coroner Robert Pierpont summoning a jury on 6 Mar 1770 to investigate the death of a tall man shot by soldiers on King Street. His name, according to their inquest report and that day’s newspapers, was Michael Johnson.

By the following Monday, however, the same man was being identified as Crispus Attucks, and that’s how he’s come down to us in the historical records.

Readex, the company that publishes the Archive of Americana online database that I love to use, has just published my online article “On the Trail of Crispus Attucks: Investigating a Victim of the Boston Massacre.” It describes how students might use the colonial publications and newspaper stories reproduced in that database to learn more about Johnson/Attucks.

I access the Archive of Americana through the Boston Public Library, as can anyone with a card for that system (which any resident of Massachusetts can apply for). Many universities libraries also subscribe. It’s a wonderful way to spend far more time than you expect.