Captain Thomas Preston (1722) was a British military officer who served in Boston, Massachusetts. He commanded the troops involved in the Boston Massacre in 1770 and was tried for murder, but was acquitted. Historians have never settled whether he ordered his men to fire on the colonists. Preston was originally from Ireland; his people were among the Protestants settled there.[1]
Preston was a captain of the 29th Regiment of Foot, part of the British garrison in Boston under the overall command of Thomas Gage. He was present at the Boston Massacre, also known as the Incident on King Street, when on 5 March 1770 a group of soldiers from the 29th fired on colonists of the city, after an aggressive mob had confronted them and thrown snowballs, clubs, and rocks at them. Captain Thomas Preston showed up on the scene to help the other troops.
Charges were brought against him and other soldiers, but he was acquitted in a trial held in Boston, Massachusetts. Future United States President John Adams was his attorney. An eyewitness report by John Tudor, who was a merchant, says that Preston gave the order to fire, but many historians believe that he did not. Two of his men, Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy, were found guilty of manslaughter. They "prayed clergy" to avoid the death sentence. Instead, they were branded on the thumb with a hot iron, the letter "M" for murder. Captain Preston was tried separately. The main issue was whether or not he had called the order to fire, he was found not guilty.
After his trial, Preston retired from the army. He reportedly settled in Ireland. Adams later recalled seeing him in London in the 1780s, when Adams was serving there as US Minister to Britain.