Jan. 12, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: On March 5, 1770, British soldiers opened fire on an angry, rock-throwing mob in what became known as the “Boston Massacre,” killing five and injuring six. The captain and eight soldiers involved were arrested the next morning. The British Army withdrew its garrison from Boston a week later.
Two weeks into our nation’s 250th anniversary, are we less or more committed to accountability and justice than the standard even the tyrannical British met in the aftermath of the massacre? As we celebrate our Revolutionary cause, ask yourself: if transported back to that era, would you have written to your local newspaper blaming the dead for “putting themselves in that situation” and “not following orders”?
Future President John Adams volunteered to defend the soldiers in court, an extremely unpopular move driven purely by his commitment to due process. Yet writing on the massacre’s third anniversary, Adams clearly laid blame: “This however is no reason why the town should not call the action of that night a massacre, nor is it any argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused [the soldiers] to be sent here. But it is the strongest proofs of the danger of standing armies.”
One wonders what Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Henry would say about federal agents occupying our cities today, forces lacking the strict training and discipline of our actual Army. STEVE LANDGRAF Lexington
