TIMELINE

1. October 1, 1768 — British troops arrive in Boston.
2. February 22, 1770 — Ebenezer Richardson shoots and kills Christopher Seider.
3. February 26, 1770 — About 2,000 people attend Seider’s funeral.
4. March 2 and 3, 1770 — Soldiers and ropeworkers fight at Gray’s Ropeworks.
5. March 5, 1770 — British soldiers clash with patriots in several areas of Boston. At the Custom House, Boston residents Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, and James Caldwell are shot and killed. Samuel Maverick, Patrick Carr, Edward Payne, and five other men are wounded.
6. March 6, 1770 — Maverick dies; Captain Thomas Preston is arrested; eight other soldiers turn themselves in; patriot leaders demand that troops leave Boston.
7. March 10–14, 1770 — British troops are sent to Castle William in Boston Harbor.
8. March 14, 1770 — Patrick Carr dies, bringing the number of victims to five.
9. April 1770 — Ebenezer Richardson is found guilty of murdering Christopher Seider, but is later pardoned.
10. October 30, 1770 — Captain Preston is found not guilty.
11. December 5, 1770 — Six soldiers are found not guilty. Two are convicted of manslaughter.
12. December 16, 1773 — Patriots protest the tea tax during the Boston Tea Party.
13. April 19, 1775 — The Battles of Lexington and Concord are the first battles of the Revolutionary War.
14. July 4, 1776 — Members of the Second Continental Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence.
15. September 3, 1783 — The Revolutionary War officially ends; the United States of America is an independent country.