Nationality Irish Died 4 March 1825 Siblings Hugh Mulligan | Occupation Tailor, Spy | |
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Alma mater Kings College, New York Spouse Elizabeth Sanders (m. 1773) Children John W. Mulligan, William Cooke Mulligan Similar John Laurens, Angelica Schuyler Church, Margarita Schuyler Van Rens, Philip Hamilton, Gilbert du Motier - Marquis d | ||
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Hercules Mulligan (September 25, 1740 – March 4, 1825) was a tailor and spy during the American Revolutionary War.
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Early life
Born in Ireland to Hugh and Sarah Mulligan, the family immigrated to North America in 1746, settling in New York City. Mulligan attended King's College (now Columbia University) in New York City. After graduating, Mulligan worked as a clerk for his father's accounting business. He later went on to open a tailoring and haberdashery business, catering to wealthy British Crown force officers.
On October 27, 1773, Mulligan, an Episcopalian, married Elizabeth Sanders at Trinity Church. Sanders was the niece of Admiral Charles Sanders of the Royal British Navy. The couple had eight children, five daughters and three sons.
Mulligan was introduced to Alexander Hamilton shortly after Hamilton arrived in New York. The men were introduced by Mulligan's brother, Hugh; Mulligan also knew the Crugers, for whom Hamilton had clerked in St. Croix. Mulligan helped Hamilton enroll at the Elizabethtown Academy in New Jersey, and later, the College of New Jersey at Princeton (now Princeton University). After Hamilton enrolled at King's College, he lived with Mulligan in New York City. Mulligan had a profound impact on Hamilton's desire for revolution.
Involvement in the American Revolution
In 1765, Mulligan was one of the first colonists to join the Sons of Liberty, a secret society formed to protect the rights of the colonists and to fight British taxation. He also helped to mob British soldiers in the Battle of Golden Hill. He was a member of the New York Committee of Correspondence, a group that rallied opposition to the British through written communications. In August 1775, he and the Corsicans, a New York volunteer militia company, under fire from HMS Asia, successfully raided four British cannons in the Battery. In 1776, Mulligan and the Sons of Liberty knocked down a statue of King George III in Bowling Green, melting the lead in the center to cast bullets to use against the British. Mulligan continued to fight for liberty following the Declaration of Independence.
While staying with the Mulligan family, Alexander Hamilton came to share Mulligan's views. Initially siding with the British before coming to New York, Hamilton was persuaded to change his views and joined the Sons of Liberty. As a result, Hamilton wrote an essay in 1775 in favor of independence, which caused a sensation and helped hasten the Revolution. When George Washington spoke of his need for reliable information from within New York City in 1776, after the Continental Army was driven out, Hamilton recommended Mulligan due to his placement as tailor to British soldiers and higher-ups.
This proved to be incredibly successful, with Mulligan saving Washington's life on two occasions. The first occurred when a British officer, who requested a watch coat late one evening, told Mulligan of their plans: "before another day, we'll have the rebel general in our hands." Mulligan quickly informed Washington, who changed his plans and avoided capture.
Mulligan's slave, Cato, was a Black Patriot who served as spy together with Mulligan, and often acted the role of courier, in part through British-held territory, by exploiting his status as a slave, letting him pass on intelligence to the Continental Army without being stopped.
After the Revolutionary war
Mulligan was cleared of suspicions of possible Loyalist sympathies when George Washington had breakfast with him on the day after the British evacuated New York City and Washington entered it at the end of the war.
It is not known what happened to Mulligan's slave Cato. However, on January 25, 1785, Mulligan became one of the 19 founding members, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, of the New York Manumission Society, an early American organization founded to promote abolition (or manumission) of slaves.
Following the Revolution, Mulligan's tailoring business prospered. He retired in 1820 and died in 1825, aged 84. Mulligan was buried in the Sanders tomb behind Trinity Church. When the church was enlarged, the Sanders tomb was covered. Today, there is a tombstone located in the southwest quadrant of the churchyard bearing Mulligan's name.
In popular culture
In the 2015 hit Broadway musical Hamilton, Mulligan was portrayed by actor Okieriete Onaodowan, who also played James Madison. Mulligan appears in the first act of the play as a friend of Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, and Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, working as a tailor's apprentice and subsequently a soldier and spy in the American Revolution.