March 5 Birthday
March 5, 1770: British soldiers fired into a crowd of Bostonians, killing five. The event was immediately labeled a massacre by Paul Revere, whose engraving depicted organized British troops firing into a peaceful gathering. The reality was messier — the crowd had been throwing snowballs and ice, the soldiers were scared, and the first shot may have been accidental. But John Adams, who defended the soldiers in court and got most acquitted, understood that the facts mattered less than the narrative. The Boston Massacre became the first great propaganda victory of the American Revolution. People born on March 5 fall under the zodiac sign of Pisces. The birthstone is Aquamarine and the birth flower is Daffodil. Historical events on March 5 include 1770: Boston Massacre, 1946: Winston Churchill delivers Iron Curtain speech, 1979: Voyager 1 passes Jupiter. Famous people born on March 5 include Rosa Parks (1913), Andy Gibb (1958), Eva Mendes (1974).