General Gage, the British commander in Boston, was facing growing tensions between his troops and colonists. His plan was to secretly remove weapons from the colonists to gain the upper hand, but intelligence of his plans was leaked to Paul Revere. Revere rode from Boston to Lexington to warn that British troops were coming, lighting lanterns as a signal and avoiding capture along the way. Though Revere was later detained by British troops, he managed to spread the warning and the element of surprise was lost for the British.