An impromptu town meeting was held and an immense assembly gathered. Three days after, on
the 8th, a public funeral of the Martyrs took
place. The shops in Boston were closed and all
the bells of Boston and the neighboring towns
were rung. It is said that a greater number of
persons assembled on this occasion than ever before gathered on this continent for a similar purpose. The body of Crispus Attucks, the mulatto,
had been placed in Faneuil Hall with that of
Caldwell, both being strangers in the city. Maverick was buried from his mother’s house in Union
Street, and Gray from his brother’s in Royal
Exchange Lane.
The four hearses formed a junction in King Street and then the procession marched in columns six deep, with a long file of coaches belonging to the most distinguished citizens, to the Middle Burying Ground, where the four victims were deposited in one grave over which a stone was placed with the inscription:
‘Long as in Freedom’s cause the wise contend,
Dear to your country shall your fame extend;
While to the world the lettered stone shall tell
Where Caldwell, Attucks, Gray and Maverick fell.’
“The anniversary of this event was publicly commemorated in Boston by an oration and other exercises every year until our National Indepen-
