People

Boston lawyer who defended the British soldiers after the Massacre, later a key voice for independence and second president of the United States.

The organizer who built the resistance movement in Boston through town meetings, correspondence committees, and strategic confrontations with British authority.

Boston shoemaker who participated in the Tea Party and Boston Massacre, later celebrated as a living link to the Revolution.

Boston physician and patriot leader who sent Paul Revere on his midnight ride and died leading troops at Bunker Hill.

Boston artisan who became the Revolution's most famous messenger, riding to warn Lexington and Concord of the British approach on April 18, 1775.

British officer who commanded soldiers at the Boston Massacre and was acquitted after John Adams defended him.

Massachusetts-born royal governor whose enforcement of British policy made him a patriot target, eventually forcing his exile to England.

A man of African and Native American descent who was among the first killed in the Boston Massacre, later remembered as the first martyr of the American Revolution.

British general who commanded the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777, defeating Washington at Brandywine and capturing both Wilmington and Philadelphia. His approach via the Chesapeake rather than overland succeeded in taking the capital but failed to destroy the Continental Army.

A 25-year-old Boston bookseller who taught himself military science and dragged cannon 300 miles to end the siege.

Enslaved African poet whose published works made her internationally famous, complicating Revolutionary rhetoric about liberty and bondage.

Boston-area writer whose satirical plays attacked British policy and whose history documented the Revolution she helped make.