The Bloody Massacre (Re-engraving) - Sidney L. Smith

A 1908 re-engraving by Sidney L. Smith of Paul Revere's iconic 1770 depiction of the Boston Massacre.

This work is a meticulous re-engraving by Sidney L. Smith, produced in 1908, which replicates the famous 1770 print by Paul Revere. The original image depicts the Boston Massacre, a violent confrontation between British soldiers and a crowd of colonists on King Street. Smith, a skilled engraver, captured the precise lines and narrative elements of the original composition to preserve the visual record of this event for a new generation.

The scene shows a line of British soldiers firing into a group of civilians. Smoke billows from their muskets, obscuring the background architecture, which includes the Old State House and the building labelled Butcher's Hall. In the foreground, several victims lie on the ground, while a small dog stands near the centre. The print includes the original text, which serves as a poetic condemnation of the British military presence in Boston, alongside a list of the casualties.

Smith's version maintains the aesthetic of the eighteenth-century original, utilising a similar graphic style that prioritises clarity and political messaging over realistic perspective. The hand-coloured appearance of the print reflects the common practice of the period, where monochrome engravings were finished with washes of colour to increase their visual impact. By re-engraving this plate, Smith ensured that the iconography of the American Revolution remained accessible to historians and collectors. The work functions as a document of both the historical event itself and the early twentieth-century interest in American colonial history. It is a faithful reproduction that respects the technical constraints and stylistic choices of the original engraver, Paul Revere, while demonstrating the technical proficiency of Smith in the early 1900s.