The answer is when a crowd taunted eight British soldiers safeguarding the customs house. On the cold, snowy night of March 5, 1770, a crowd of angry colonists meets at the Customs House in Boston and starts throwing snowballs and rocks at the lone British soldier guarding the building. The protesters opposed the profession of their city by British groups, who were led to Boston in 1768 to impose unpopular taxation measures approved by a British congress without straight American representation.