In 1770 an important event took place in Boston. There was a massacre on King Street now called State. Several men were shot by British soldiers. The most conspicuous figure there was Crispus Attucks, a Negro, who lost his life. Years before he had been a slave in Framingham and escaped from his master. Several advertisements were published in the _Boston Gazette_, with ample rewards for his capture; but he was not seized. Twenty years after he came to Boston. When the British soldiers were insulting and oppressing the true American patriots, Attucks appeared as the leader to the first resistance to their tyranny. On March 5th, 1770, Attucks as the leader shouted: “The way to get rid of these soldiers is to attack the main guard; strike at the root, there is the nest.” When the British soldiers fired, Attucks was the first to fall. The body of this hero with that of another who fell, lay in Fanueil Hall, while others were buried from their homes. The funeral was said to have been the largest ever known in this country. Daniel Webster said: “From that moment we may date the severance of the British Empire.” At the battle of Bunker Hill, Major Pitcairn was killed, which proved to be a serious loss to the British. It was he who was the chief commander of the forces that went out to Lexington and Concord at the time of the famous fight there. He fell at the hands of private Peter Salem of Colonel Nixon’s regiment of the Continental Army. This Negro soldier’s claim to this honor could not be disputed. There was another Negro soldier who distinguished himself, Salem Poor, and displayed such valor that fourteen American officers called the attention of Congress to his merits. The memorial was dated at Cambridge, December 5, 1775, and stated “that under our own observation, we declare that a Negro man called Salem Poor, of Colonel Frye’s regiment, Captain Ames’ company, in the late battle at Charlestown behaved like an experienced officer as well as an excellent soldier. To set forth the particulars of his conduct would be tedious. We would only beg leave to say, in the person of this said Negro, centres a brave and gallant soldier. The reward due to so great and distinguished a character we submit to the Congress.” The army organized at Cambridge under General Washington, had from the start colored men in it. The historian Bancroft states that free Negroes stood in the ranks by the side of white men. All through the Revolution the colored man performed a very important part, for which very little credit has ever been given him.