On the evening of March 5, 1770, a group of Boston citizens surrounded a squad of British guards at their post and began a conflict that has been immortalized as the Boston Massacre. The crowd was made up mostly of apprentices and sailors, many of them underemployed because of the economic depression then plaguing the city. The soldiers were stationed in the city to protect customs officials and enforce the collection of duties on imports—but as far as the citizens were concerned, the soldiers were there to overawe them and prevent them from exercising their natural rights.