<P> The phrase comes from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson 's `` Concord Hymn '' ( 1837 ) and refers to the first shot of the American Revolution at the Old North Bridge in Concord , Massachusetts , where the first British soldiers fell in the battles of Lexington and Concord . Historically , no single shot can be cited as the first shot of the battle or the war . Shots were fired earlier at Lexington , Massachusetts where eight Americans were killed and a British soldier was slightly wounded , but accounts of that event are confused and contradictory . The North Bridge skirmish did see the first shots by Americans acting under orders , the first organized volley by Americans , the first British fatalities , and the first British retreat . </P>
<P> The phrase comes from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson 's `` Concord Hymn '' ( 1837 ) and refers to the first shot of the American Revolution at the Old North Bridge in Concord , Massachusetts , where the first British soldiers fell in the battles of Lexington and Concord . Historically , no single shot can be cited as the first shot of the battle or the war . Shots were fired earlier at Lexington , Massachusetts where eight Americans were killed and a British soldier was slightly wounded , but accounts of that event are confused and contradictory . The North Bridge skirmish did see the first shots by Americans acting under orders , the first organized volley by Americans , the first British fatalities , and the first British retreat . </P>
who said the shot heard round the world
who said the shot heard round the world
Ralph Waldo Emerson 's
Ralph Waldo Emerson 's