Edward Garrick
Edward Garrick
A cocky wigmaker’s apprentice whose interaction with British soldiers triggers the Boston Massacre.
From the Card:
- You are on friendly terms with some of the British soldiers in Boston. You even go to visit them occasionally.
- On the night of March 5, 1770, you and some friends are out on the street irritating a British soldier who is on sentry duty. When you confront a passing officer telling him he hasn’t paid his bill, the sentry takes offence.
- The argument ends in physical violence and sets the Boston Massacre in motion.
- After the Boston Massacre trials, nobody knows what becomes of you.
At age 13, boys like Edward Garrick began apprenticeships. Leaving their parents homes to live and study under a master of a craft. Being teenagers, apprentices often got into a lot of mischief. Edward Garrick and his friends were doing just that on the night of March 5th, but in the volatile town they lived in, youthful mischief quickly turned into a violent altercation which ended in bloodshed.
For more information on Edward Garrick, try:
- A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society- This is a published account from the 1700s that includes Bartholomew’s deposition of what he saw that night.
- Lost Youth Week Begins with Edward Garrick from the blog Boston 1775- This article explains the little that is known about the boy who arguable “started” the Boston Massacre.