On April 19, 1775, General Thomas Gage sent about 700 British troops on a secret raid to destroy colonial supplies at Concord, but the colonists knew they were coming before the soldiers did. This episode cuts through the Paul Revere myth to examine a decentralized alarm system of riders, bells and bonfires, and the theory that the leak may have come from Gage’s own wife, Margaret Gage.

We follow the miserable midnight crossing, the chaotic first shot on Lexington Green under Captain John Parker, the bucket brigade in Concord, and the clash at the Old North Bridge. Then we trace the 17-mile gauntlet back to Boston, Lord Percy’s rescue, house-to-house fighting in Menotomy, and how Patriots won the propaganda race to London.

• Why Gage’s ad hoc strike force lost discipline after the first shot at Lexington
• How smoke from a town square fire spurred militia to march on the North Bridge
• Why a street firing formation fell apart on the riverbank at Concord
• The old men of the alarm list who captured British supply wagons
• How Patriot depositions reached London before Gage’s official report