July 1 marks the anniversary of one of the most significant events in American history—the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Fought over three days in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the battle became the largest and deadliest engagement of the American Civil War. More than 160,000 Union and Confederate soldiers converged on the small town, where intense fighting ultimately resulted in an estimated 51,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing.

The battle began on July 1 as Confederate and Union forces unexpectedly encountered one another outside Gettysburg. As additional troops arrived throughout the day, the fighting intensified and eventually spread across the surrounding hills and ridges.

The conflict reached its climax on July 3 with Pickett’s Charge, a massive Confederate assault against the center of the Union line. The attack failed, forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat south, ending his second and final invasion of the North.

Historians widely consider the Battle of Gettysburg a turning point in the Civil War. Lee’s defeat halted Confederate momentum, while the Union victory strengthened Northern morale and shifted the course of the conflict.

Just four months later, President Abraham Lincoln returned to Gettysburg to dedicate the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. During the ceremony, he delivered the Gettysburg Address, a brief speech that became one of the most enduring expressions of American democracy and the nation’s founding ideals.

Today, Gettysburg National Military Park preserves the battlefield, allowing millions of visitors each year to explore the site where one of the defining moments in United States history began on July 1, 1863.

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For 20 years Cris had worked as a commercial fisherman and a dockworker.  On this particular cold March afternoon, Cris had some time on his hands.  He had just returned from working on a ship in the Bahamas and was waiting to catch another ship which would take him to yet another port city.  He never caught that ship.  While he waited, Cris walked over the frozen, snow-covered ground to King Street, the port city’s main hub of activity.  Cris carried a pound stick, a tool of his trade.  A pound stick was a large stick used to strike or pound a ship’s deck to summon crew to their stations and for setting the pacing for others while they were loading and unloading a ship’s cargo.  When not on duty, Cris and other sailors used their pound sticks as walking sticks.  

Shopkeepers on King Street recognized that something other than the comings and goings of regular commerce was happening in front of the government building nearby.  Shopkeeper Edward Payne stood in his entry doorway gazing at the large crowd trying to understand the situation.  Edward heard the voices of men and boys yelling at each other in the crowd.  Suddenly, chaos erupted.  The men and boys threw rocks, hard-packed snowballs, and anything else they could get their hands on at the nine guards protecting the government building.  Some of the sailors swung their pound sticks at the guards.  Whether Cris swung his stick has never been confirmed, but he was in the front when the guards opened fire.  The gunfire lasted for only a few seconds.  

Yells of anger turned into a mixture of moans of pain and shrieks of terror.  51-year-old Sam Gray, a rope maker, was shot in the head and died instantly.  17-year-old Sam Maverick, an apprentice, was shot in the stomach and died the following day.  49-year-old James Caldwell, a mate on a ship, was shot twice in the back and died in the street.  30-year-old Patrick Carr, leather worker, was shot in the hip and died nine days later.  Cris was shot twice in the chest and died instantly.

Others were injured but survived.  Shopkeeper Edward Payne’s arm was broken when he was struck by a shot as he stood in his shop’s doorway.  John Green, a tailor, was shot in his thigh.  Robert Patterson, a sailor, was shot through his right arm.  A youth named David Parker was shot in his thigh.  Two 17-year-old boys, Christopher Monk and John Clark, both apprentices on ships, were shot; Monk in the back and Clark in his abdomen.  All but Monk recovered from their wounds.  Monk’s wound was extremely severe, left him disabled, and led to his early death ten years later.  

Most citizens in Great Britain are unaware of this altercation, but the British government officially referred to it as the Incident on King Street.  Colonists initially called it the Bloody Massacre.  The world now refers to the Incident on King Street as the Boston Massacre.  

Sources:

1.     The Boston Gazette, March 12, 1770, p.1-3.

2.     “The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.,” Library of Congress, accessed June 28, 2027, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008661777/.

3.     “What was the Boston Massacre?” Boston Massacre Historical Society, accessed June 28, 2027, https://www.bostonmassacre.net/index.html.

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