the first shot of civil war was fired at battle of appomattox.
where was the first shot of civil war fired?
battle of appomattox
at daybreak on january 9, 1861, simkins saw the signal from a guard boat, and sounded the alarm in the sand battery, alerting his fellow citadel cadets to the arrival of the union ship the "star of the west", which was attempting to ferry supplies to fort sumter. the cadets fired the first shots of the american civil war. "the daily courier" at first said he had fired the first shot, although the official account later blamed a local youth named g. e. haynesworth. simkins once said he only loaded the gun which fired the first shot, though many historians believe that he actually fired it, too.
william stewart simkins
some witnesses among the regulars reported the first shot was fired by a colonial onlooker from behind a hedge or around the corner of a tavern. some observers reported a mounted british officer firing first. both sides generally agreed that the initial shot did not come from the men on the ground immediately facing each other. speculation arose later in lexington that a man named solomon brown fired the first shot from inside the tavern or from behind a wall, but this has been discredited. some witnesses (on each side) claimed that someone on the other side fired first; however, many more witnesses claimed to not know. yet another theory is that the first shot was one fired by the british, that killed asahel porter, their prisoner who was running away (he had been told to walk away and he would be let go, though he panicked and began to run). historian david hackett fischer has proposed that there may actually have been multiple near-simultaneous shots. historian mark urban claims the british surged forward with bayonets ready in an undisciplined way, provoking a few scattered shots from the militia. in response the british troops, without orders, fired a devastating volley. this lack of discipline among the british troops had a key role in the escalation of violence.
battles of lexington and concord