‘Shot Heard Round the World’ musket balls recovered from site of famous first-day Revolutionary War battle

By Steve Almasy, CNN

(CNN) — Almost 250 years ago, British soldiers marched in search of military supplies stockpiled by colonial rebels in Massachusetts and tension turned to bloodshed with battles at the towns of Lexington and Concord that began the Revolutionary War.

The fighting in Concord on April 19, 1775, was immortalized by legendary essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson as “The Shot Heard Round the World.”

National Park Service archaeologists recently found five musket balls fired that day by colonial militia members, according to a news release from the federal agency.

“It’s incredible that we can stand here and hold what amounts to just a few seconds of history that changed the world almost 250 years ago,” Jarrad Fuoss, a ranger at Minute Man National Historical Park and a historic weapons specialist, said in the release. “These musket balls can be considered collectively as ‘The Shot Heard Round the World,’ and it is incredible that they have survived this long.”

The projectiles were found near the site of the North Bridge where British soldiers faced off against the militia members in the famed three-minute battle in Concord, the park service said.

“Further analysis of the musket balls indicates that each one was fired from the opposite side of the river and not dropped during the process of reloading,” park service officials said.

The recently discovered five musket balls will be on display at the park Saturday.

The fighting that led to the birth of the United States began that 1775 day with a short skirmish in Lexington, Massachusetts, in which eight militia members were killed and 10 were wounded.

The British continued to move to Concord to search a home for military supplies, leaving a contingent of about 100 soldiers at the North Bridge. As militia members approached, shots were fired by the British troops.

Historians say 18 men were killed or wounded in the battle at the bridge. The fighting that day at Lexington, Concord and other sites took the lives of more than 120 people.

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