Committees of Correspondence: An 18th-Century Network

Beyond the Boston area, news of the deaths in Lexington spread through a series of letters copied and distributed along a planned network of Committees of Correspondence. By April 1775, this network was already organized throughout the colonies, insuring that an infrastructure was in place to facilitate the efficient spread of important news across a large geographic area.

The map below illustrates this alarm letter's journey from Watertown, Massachusetts, to Norwich, Connecticut, to its eventual arrival in New York City. The letter was copied at each stop and carried further along the network.

Click on the icon below for more information about the blue pins on the map.