250-year-old musket balls from 'Shot Heard Round the World' discovered at Massachusetts park
Five musket balls were recently discovered by archeologists at Minute Man National Historical Park in Massachusetts, and traced back to the event marked in history as “The Shot Heard Round the World” that precipitated the American Revolutionary War in 1775, park officials said.
Five musket balls were recently discovered by archeologists at Minute Man National Historical Park in Massachusetts, and traced back to the event marked in history as “The Shot Heard Round the World” that precipitated the American Revolutionary War in 1775, park officials said.
The 249-year-old musket balls were discovered by archeologists doing "compliance activities" in preparation for an event, the National Park Service said in a news release Tuesday.
Early analysis indicates they were fired by colonial militia members at British forces during the North Bridge fight in Concord on April 19, 1775.
North Bridge marked the moment when militia leaders fired against British forces and was later dubbed “The Shot Heard Round the World” by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1837 “Concord Hymn” about the conflict.
A painting depicting the battle at North Bridge in Concord, Mass., on April 19, 1775. VCG Wilson / Corbis via Getty ImagesThe musket balls were found in an area where “according to contemporary accounts, British soldiers formed up to resist the river crossing,” the release said.
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