March 5, 1770
Boston Massachusetts
Crispus Attucks, a dockworker by trade, heard the ringing of the church bells and noticed the crowd forming in front of the Custom House. He made his way toward the Custom House, curious about the source of the disturbance. As he got closer he noticed a frightened looking young British soldier standing defensively on the steps of the Custom House. The crowd was throwing things at the unfortunate soldier and openly challenging him to fire. Crispus noticed a large, young man approach the soldier and warn him, "if you fire you must die for it." Curious, Crispus asked the man, "What happened to cause this?" The man turned to look at Crispus and answered, "That Redcoat got into an argument with a citizen and struck him in the head with his rifle. Now this crowd wants him to answer for his violence." As Crispus nods his head in understanding he notices a small group of British soldiers marching toward the Custom House with fixed bayonets. He points in their direction and says, "It looks like things are going to get worse, here comes that Redcoat's rescue party." The young man gets a worried look on his face and tells Crispus, "This has the potential to get out of hand. There is a Captain leading them, lets go have a word with him." Crispus follows the young man toward the oncoming British soldiers. The young man, followed by Crispus, calmly walks up to the British captain and tells him, "For God's sake, take care of your men. If they fire, you must die." The British captain looks at him and replies, "I am aware of that."
Crispus watches as the British soldiers join their comrade on the Custom House steps, load their muskets and form a semi-circular defensive formation. The Captain, stands in front of his men and begins shouting at the crowd to disperse. This only serves to agitate the crowd further as they continue to pelt the soldiers with snowballs and other small objects while at the same time taunting the soldiers to fire. Crispus, near the front of the crowd and only a few steps from the Redcoats grows more concerned as the British Captain, responding to a question from one of the locals, confirms that his soldiers have loaded their weapons, but will not fire unless he orders it. Suddenly, one of the soldiers is knocked down by a chunk of wood causing him to drop his weapon. The soldier gets to his feet and angrily glares at the crowd and shouts, "Damn you, fire!" He then fires into the crowd. The local who had asked the Captain if their weapons were loaded,swung a club at the soldier, and then at the Captain, striking them both on the arm.
There is a long pause as both the crowd and the soldiers try to process what has happened. Crispus is holding his breath, unable to move as he watches the soldiers. After about 30 seconds the next shot rings out, followed by several more in a ragged volley. In slow motion Crispus sees one of the soldiers turn his weapon on the young man he accompanied to warn the British Captain. Acting without really thinking about it, Crispus grabs the young man and steps between him and the British soldier while shouting, "Don't shoot, look out!" Crispus would later recall that he never actually heard the shot, but he saw the black powder smoke and felt the ball dig into his right side. With one hand still on the man who's life he just saved, Crispus slowly drops to one knee and reaches for his wound. The young man pauses as he is shocked and surprised at what has just happened. After getting over his initial shock, he helps Crispus slowly get to his feet and says, "Can you walk with me to my home where we can safely tend to your wound?" Crispus gets to his feet while feeling desperately at the wound. Lucky for him it just feels like a deep grazing wound, he replies, "I do not think it is a serious wound, yes let's get off the street."
A short while later, with his deep grazing wound cleaned and bandaged, the young man whose life he saved shakes his hand, smiles and says, "My name is Henry Knox, and I owe you my life."
To be continued..........................
Pictured is Crispus Attucks.
