Episode 10 — The Powder Alarm (September 1774)

Three weeks before the First Continental Congress, General Gage sends troops to seize the provincial gunpowder at Somerville. Word spreads at extraordinary speed; by the next day 4,000–20,000 militiamen from Massachusetts and Connecticut are marching on Boston. No shots fired, the British keep the powder — but the speed and scale of the response terrifies the British and exposes the depth of Patriot organization in New England.