In the late 18th century, tensions in colonial America were high. Although the colonists came to America to start over and escape British rule, the British Parliament still maintained a strong hold on the colonies through various taxes and rules that the colonists had to follow. The tension created by these rules amounted to a fervor among the colonists that the British were overstepping their borders and to feelings of resentment toward British soldiers sent to America. The events of the Boston Massacre illustrate the tension that had developed between the colonists and the British, which ended in bloodshed due to the orders given by Captain Thomas Preston. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Captain Thomas Preston's testimony about the events of that fateful evening places the blame squarely on the mob. He places himself between the crowd and the soldiers, trying to “persuade them to withdraw peacefully, but in vain.” He described the crowd as mocking the soldiers and egging them on, wondering why they hadn't fired yet. He said he did not intend to order his soldiers to shoot because he would undoubtedly have been shot in the chaos. Captain Preston claimed that the first soldier who fired was an accident, as he was hit with a stick. Finally, he blamed the ensuing chaos, caused by all his soldiers firing, on incitement from the crowd, many of them saying "...why don't you shoot." Captain Preston said his soldiers thought the words came from him and that's why they started shooting. Based on numerous eyewitness accounts of the event, there were many discrepancies in Preston's story that make his version of events very improbable. The most important difference in the accounts reported that night is whether Captain Preston actually gave the order to fire. While Preston states that he would never have given the order because “…my order to shoot under these circumstances would prove that I am not an officer,” testimony states otherwise. Several prosecution witnesses who were within walking distance of Preston heard him give the order to shoot, with three of the witnesses hearing essentially the same phrase "Damn, shoot their blood again and let them suffer the consequences" , coming after one of his soldiers was killed. hit with a stick that was thrown. All defense testimony, except one individual, claimed that they did not hear the order to shoot, meaning that they could not be sure that the captain had not said and that they had just missed him saying it. A significant discrepancy between Captain Thomas Preston and several eyewitnesses is where he was during the ordeal. Preston claims he stood between the soldiers and the crowd in an attempt to keep the peace. He also claims that he would never have ordered his men to shoot because he would also have been shot because of his position. This account cannot be true for two reasons, one of them being that Preston emerged from the massacre uninjured. If he had actually stood in front of all those shots, he surely would have suffered some sort of injury. Second, eyewitness accounts from people standing extremely close to Preston, including Robert Goddard, who said: "I was so close to the officer when he gave the order to shoot that I could touch him... He stood in the middle behind the men", declare that he stood.