The incident was the climax of a series of brawls in which local workers and sailors clashed with British soldiers quartered in Boston. Harassed by a mob, the troops opened fire. Crispus Attucks (Attucks, Crispus), a black sailor and former slave, was shot first and died along with four others. Samuel Adams (Adams, Samuel), a skillful propagandist of the day, shrewdly depicted the affair as a battle for American liberty. His cousin John Adams (Adams, John), however, successfully defended the British soldiers tried for murder in the affair.