Musket balls from first major battle of revolutionary war found near Boston

Archaeologists dig up five musket balls fired at British by colonial militia on 19 April 1775 in national park in Concord

Nearly 250 years ago, hundreds of militiamen lined a hillside in Massachusetts and started firing a barrage of musket balls toward retreating British troops, marking the first major battle in the revolutionary war.

The latest evidence of that firefight is five musket balls dug up last year near the North Bridge site in the Minute Man national historical park in Concord. Early analysis of the balls – gray with sizes ranging from a pea to a marble – indicates colonial militia members fired them at British forces on 19 April 1775.