Harnessing resentments of the past, a line of children wearing makeshift redcoat uniforms stared down their peers of Styrofoam snowball-wielding patriots outside the Old State House on Sunday, in a reenactment of the Boston Massacre on the eve of its 237th anniversary.

Rangers from the Adams National Historical Park narrated as children between 7 and 10 years old dressed as colonists and soldiers from the 29th British regiment acted out the event often credited with propelling the colonies into the Revolutionary War.

Adams National Historical Park Ranger Karen Yourell said the children were eager to participate, and their parents encouraged them regardless of the event’s inherent violence, which resulted in five dead Bostonians in 1770.

“Kids are the future, and they should remember the struggles people endured to gain freedom and how precious it is,” she said.

Staying accurate to the Boston Massacre’s history, a group of students acting as rowdy Bostonians taunted one of their peers playing a British soldier standing guard outside the Customs House. The conflict escalated when British soldiers fired their rifles into the crowd of boisterous colonists.

By playing both the roles of patriots and the British soldiers, students are encouraged to inquire about different accounts of history, Yourell said, reminding that there are two sides to every story.

“It is a lesson we would like them to learn,” she said. “Almost all of them say [at first] that the patriots were right, but once they play their role, they see both sides of the story.”

Yourell said colonists who were in favor of revolting against Great Britain misleadingly reported the event as a mass murder to help stir up support for their cause.

“Paul Revere’s depiction isn’t exactly factual,” she said of the famous patriot’s engraved illustration of a line of Redcoats slaughtering unarmed civilians. “Propaganda can be used to incite a crowd.”

Participants and spectators later crowded inside the building for a re-enactment of the subsequent trial of the British soldiers who were tried for the incident.

Several parents at the event said their children had previously participated in reenactments of other historical events.

Melinda and Teddy Corbin, who traveled from Connecticut, watched their son act as a British soldier. Their friend, Chris Mainard, said his children have participated in fife and drum reenactments as well as historical parades.

“I am very fascinated with history and want to share that with my children,” Mainard said.

But Mainard said his daughter attended more for than just the sake of recounting history. Mainard said his daughter, Sierra, approaches reenactments professionally, hoping they will be stepping stones on her way to an acting career.