Towards the end of the 18th century, tensions in colonial America were running high. Although the colonists came to America to start over and escape British rule, the British Parliament still maintained a strong foothold on the colonies through various taxes and rules that the colonists had to abide by. The tension created by these rules amounted to fervor among colonists that the British were overstepping their borders and feelings of resentment toward the British soldiers who had been sent to America. The events that occurred at the Boston Massacre illustrate the tension that had arisen between the colonists and the English, which resulted 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Captain Thomas Preston's testimony on the events that occurred that fateful evening places blame on the mob. He places himself between the crowd and the soldiers, trying to "convince them to withdraw peacefully, but to no avail." He described the crowd taunting the soldiers and cheering them on, wondering why they hadn't fired yet. He said he had no intention of ordering his soldiers to fire because he would undoubtedly have been hit in the chaos. Captain Preston claimed that the first soldier who fired was an accident, because he was hit with a stick. Ultimately, he attributed the resulting chaos of all his soldiers shooting to crowd goads, with many of them saying "...why don't you shoot?". Captain Preston stated that his soldiers thought the words were coming from him and that's why they started shooting. Based on many eyewitness accounts of the event, there were many discrepancies in Preston's story that make his version of events highly unlikely. The most important difference in the testimonies recounted from that night is whether or not Captain Preston gave the order to shoot. While Preston states that he would never have given the order as "... my order to shoot under those circumstances would demonstrate that I am not an officer", the testimonies state otherwise. Numerous prosecution witnesses who were within walking distance of Preston heard him give the order to fire, with three witnesses hearing essentially the same phrase "Damn their fire again and let them suffer the consequences", following one of his soldiers who had been killed. hit with a thrown stick. All defense witnesses, except one individual, stated that they did not hear the order to shoot, meaning that they cannot be sure that the Captain did not say it and that they did not say it. A major discrepancy between Captain Thomas Preston and numerous eyewitnesses is his whereabouts during the ordeal. Preston claims he was among the soldiers and crowds to try to keep the peace. He also states that he would never have given the order to his men to shoot because he would have been hit too, due to his position. This account cannot be true for two reasons, one of which is that Preston emerged from the massacre without injuries. If he had really been faced with all these shots, he would certainly have suffered some kind of injury. Secondly, eyewitness accounts from people extremely close to Preston, including Robert Goddard who said: "I was so close to the officer when he gave the order to fire that I could touch him... He stood in the middle behind the Men" , they claim that he stood behind his soldiers. Captain Preston essentially describes the crowd as savage, ready to attack the soldiers in a.