“An Oration containing a brief Account of the Massacre”

On Tuesday, 5 Mar 1771, Bostonians commemorated the first anniversary of the Boston Massacre.

I write “Bostonians” and not “Boston” because those commemorations weren’t official town acts. Rather, some of the more radical Whigs organized the events privately.

Paul Revere had pictures of the Massacre, Christopher Seider, and wounded America illuminated in his North End windows, as described here.

“The Bells of the several Congregational Meeting-Houses” rang for an hour after noon and then again from 9:00 to 10:00 P.M. The bells of the Anglican churches presumably stayed silent.

In addition, the Boston Gazette for 11 March reported:

An Oration containing a brief Account of the Massacre; of the Imputations of Treason and Rebellion, with which the Tools of Power endeavoured to brand the Inhabitants, and a Discant upon the Nature of Treasons, with some Considerations on the Threats of the British Ministry to take away the Massachusetts Charter, was delivered on the Evening by Dr. [Thomas] Young at the Factory-Hall, being the Place where the first Efforts of Military Tyranny was made within a few Days after the Troops arrived.

Edes and Gill’s front page for that issue of their Boston Gazette was very unusual, as shown above. It had big type, mourning banners, oversized headlines, wide columns, and other typography more common to see on broadsides than on newspapers of the day.

Dr. Thomas Young had been personally involved in the October 1768 dispute over the Manufactory. He had supported the Brown family against the regiments that tried to take over that large province-owned building, and he reported on the conflict for the newspapers. So it made sense to return to that site for his speech.

Young had also been at the forefront of the non-importation protests, both in the streets and in newspapers. On the evening before the Massacre, he was out on the streets carrying a sword, albeit trying to keep the peace by telling people fighting with soldiers near their barracks to go home. So naturally he had a lot to say about “the Threats of the British Ministry.”

On the other hand, Dr. Young was an unorthodox voice in Boston. He was a New Yorker in New England. He was a deist in a devout town dominated by Congregationalists. He was a democrat in a society that still expected deference to the genteel. For more about Dr. Thomas Young and his role in the Revolution, check out Hub History’s interview with Scott Nadler on the man.

Given Dr. Young’s many forms of radicalism, it’s easy to understand why his oration wasn’t endorsed by the town. There’s also no sign that that speech was ever published. The description in the Boston Gazette, which I suspect came from Young himself, is all that we have of it.

TOMORROW: But the idea of a commemorative oration caught on.