<P> 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 , and it has been characterized as a massacre rather than a battle . 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 shot first in the shot heard around the world
Americans acting under orders