the first shot of the revolutionary war was fired at concord, massachusetts.
the first shot of the revolutionary war was fired at concord, massachusetts.
where was the first shot of the revolutionary war fired?
concord, massachusetts
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
willis testified to the warren commission in 1964 that she remembered hearing three shots, with the last two shots bunched much closer together than the first two shots. specifically, she also testified that the assassination started when president kennedy was already waving (his waving motion does not start until zapruder film frame 174) when she heard the first shot (from z-165 through z-208, the president was hidden by a large oak tree from the view of anyone located in the warren commission lone snipers lair). like many dealey plaza witnesses, the first shot she remembered hearing sounded like a firecracker to her. she said that this first shot hit president kennedy because she saw the president immediately (and almost simultaneously) raise up both his arms and clench his fists in front of his throat as a result of the first shot that she remembered. willis stated that she did not know where the second shot that she remembered hearing came from or went to. she said that it was the third shot that she remembered that hit president kennedy in his head. in 1978, willis told the house select committee on assassinations that she "had a distinct impression that the head wound to president kennedy was a result of a front-to-rear shot" when she saw his head "blow up." in her 1989 video interview for "the men who killed kennedy" documentary, willis stated that when she saw the president's head explode in blood that she saw brain matter come out the back of the president's head, so, the head shot must have been fired from the front of president kennedy.
linda willis