Dr. Joseph Warren’s “Needle Guard”: The Secret Stitchers Who Warned a Revolution

Up a narrow staircase inside Boston’s Green Dragon Tavern, in a cramped room that smelled of wool, ink, and secrecy, Dr. Joseph Warren convened one of the most unusual intelligence units of the Revolutionary era. Later whispered about as his “Needle Guard,” this covert network of women, Prudence Wright, Mercy Otis Warren and Abigail Adams worked not with muskets or pamphlets, but with needles, seams, and the quiet confidence that no one ever suspects, the petticoats.

The Needle Guard and Dr. Joseph Warren's spy network.

The image below captures a moment that blends strategy with domestic stillness. Warren stands as the fitting mannequin, eyes closed, while the three women sew by candlelit concentration. On the surface, they are adjusting a corset and petticoat, soft linen, the kind of garment any officer’s wife might wear without question. Hidden inside the seam, however, is the real message: coded warnings about British troop movements, meant for Margaret Kemble Gage, the general’s wife and a quietly sympathetic channel inside the highest ranks of the Crown’s command.

The Needle Guard and Dr. Joseph Warren's spy network

In our musical the plan was deceptively simple. Warren would give the finished corset-petticoat to Margaret and she would use it to send secret messages to the "Son's of Liberty" spy network. Threads became signals. Seams became couriers. A woman’s garment became a conduit between Boston and Concord. Just as Prudence tightened the last hidden stitch, a firm knock sounded on the tavern door. For a heartbeat, no one breathed. Then a voice called up the stairs, only a drunk regular searching for his friends and the tension dissolved. Laughter, low and relieved, filled the little room. For one night at least, the secret held. And history, still unaware, inched closer to the morning when those warnings would help shape the first steps of the Revolution.