Violence in Boston’s North End
What Happened to Christopher Seider?
Christopher Seider was an eleven-year-old boy living in Boston, Massachusetts during the time when tensions were growing between the patriots and loyalists. On February 22, 1770, Seider was one of many children and adults that had surrounded the home of Ebenezer Richardson, a known and highly disliked informer to the British Custom Officials. In reaction to comments being made between Richardson and several men on the street, the crowd of people had begun to throw rocks, rotten food, and snowballs at his house. Some of these flying objects hit both Richardson and his wife who were standing outside. Becoming fearful of the mob, Richardson and his wife went into their home where Richardson grabbed his unloaded musket to scare away the mob outside. Despite this show of force, the mob continued to throw objects at Richardson’s house, even breaking windows and the front door. Richardson then loaded his musket with birdshot (small pellets) and fired into the mob. Christopher Seider fell bleeding onto the street with wounds in his chest and abdomen. Seider died later that night.
Colonists were outraged by his death, many historians calling it the first death of the American Revolution. An immense funeral parade, over 2,000 colonists attended, was organized from the Liberty Tree to the cemetery where he is buried. Posters were distributed throughout the town and articles published in newspapers called for “his murderers and their accomplices, however secure they may think, themselves present…by man shall his blood be shed.”
What Happened to Ebenezer Richardson?
Richardson was arrested and charged with giving Christopher Seider a “very dangerous wound.” This indictment was later changed to murder. The colonial government deemed him guilty of the charge but he was later pardoned by the king after spending two years in jail and returned to London. Theophilus Lillie showed support for his neighbor and fellow loyalist by stating that “the mobs of Boston are contrary to any law abiding governing body….I would rather be ruled by a single tyrant, than by a hundred.”
What is the Significance of his death?
Seider’s death provided Samuel Adams and other Patriot leaders with a young martyr to British tyranny and served as a grim omen for future mob violence in Boston. Many historians point to Seider’s death as the catalyst or factor that initiated the events of the Boston Massacre two weeks later.