Hercules Mulligan

{{Infobox person

| name = Hercules Mulligan

| image =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1740|09|25}}{{cite book|last1=Misencik|first1=Paul R.|title=The original American spies: seven covert agents of the Revolutionary War|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786477944|page=92|url=https://archive.org/details/originalamerican0000mise/page/92/mode/2up}}

| birth_place = Coleraine, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age |1825|3|4|1740|9|25|mf=yes}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Sanders Mulligan|October 27, 1773}}

| children = 3 sons, 5 daughters

| alma_mater = Columbia University

| nationality = Irish, American

| occupation = Tailor

| known_for = Secret agent for George Washington during the American Revolutionary War

| signature = Hercules Mulligan Signature.png

}}

Hercules Mulligan (September 25, 1740{{spaced ndash}}March 4, 1825) was an Irish-American tailor and spy during the American Revolutionary War, as well as a member of the Sons of Liberty.

Early life

Born in Coleraine in the north of Ireland to Hugh and Sarah Mulligan, Hercules Mulligan immigrated with his family to North America in 1746, settling in New York City, where he was raised from the age of six. Mulligan attended King's College, now Columbia University, in New York City.{{Cite book |last=Bleyer |first=Bill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-goEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22hercules+mulligan%22+%22king%27s+college%22&pg=PT83 |title=George Washington's Long Island: A History and Tour Guide |date=2021-06-14 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-4396-7252-5 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Randall |first=Willard Sterne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ie3gYY8HacC&dq=%22hercules+mulligan%22+%22king%27s+college%22&pg=PT50 |title=Alexander Hamilton: A Life |date=2010-07-06 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-201532-7 |language=en}} 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 officers of the British Crown forces.

On October 27, 1773, Mulligan{{cite news|last1=Mulraney|first1=Frances|title=Hercules Mulligan - the Irish-born tailor and spy who saved Washington twice|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/hercules-mulligan-the-irish-born-tailor-and-spy-who-saved-washington-twice|access-date=21 September 2016|work=IrishCentral.com|date=20 July 2016}} married Elizabeth Sanders at Trinity Church, established by the Church of England. Sanders was the niece of Admiral Charles Sanders of the British Royal Navy. The couple had eight children: five daughters and three sons.{{cite book|last1=O'Brien|first1=Michael J.|title=In old New York : the Irish dead in Trinity and St. Paul's churchyards|date=1997|publisher=Clearfield|location=Baltimore, Md.|isbn=0806347090}}

Mulligan was introduced to Alexander Hamilton shortly after Hamilton arrived in New York by Mulligan's brother, Hugh, and took him on as a lodger. Mulligan also knew the Crugers, Hamilton's patrons for whom he had clerked in St. Croix, and helped Hamilton sell their cargo that was to be used for his education and upkeep.{{cite book|last1=Brookhiser|first1=Richard|author-link=Richard Brookhiser|title=Alexander Hamilton, American|date=2000|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=0684863316|page=21,26|edition=1st Touchstone}} Mulligan helped Hamilton enroll at the Elizabethtown Academy grammar school in New Jersey to prepare for the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he placed Hamilton under the wing of William Livingston, a prominent local American revolutionary, with whom Hamilton lived for a while. Hamilton eventually enrolled at King's College instead, Mulligan's alma mater in New York City. Mulligan had a profound impact on Hamilton's desire for revolution.{{cite book|last1=Misencik|first1=Paul R.|title=The original American spies : seven covert agents of the Revolutionary War|date=2013|isbn=978-1476612911|pages=95–98|publisher=McFarland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnpkAgAAQBAJ|access-date=6 February 2016}}

Involvement in the American Revolution

In 1765, Mulligan became one of the first colonists to join the Sons of Liberty, a secret society formed to protect the rights of the colonists and to oppose British policies that limited them. In 1770, he clashed with 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 and coordinated with groups in other colonies through written communications.{{cite web|last1=Martin|first1=Paul|title=He saved George Washington's life...twice!|url=https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/he-saved-george-washingtons-life-twice|website=Fox News|date=12 March 2015 |access-date=6 February 2016}} In August 1775, while under fire from HMS Asia, he and a New York volunteer militia company called the Corsicans captured 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 and then melted the lead to cast bullets to use against the British. Mulligan remained in New York as a civilian unexposed after George Washington's army was driven out during the New York campaign in summer 1776.

While staying with the Mulligan family, Alexander Hamilton came to share Mulligan's views. As a result, Hamilton wrote an essay in 1775 in favor of independence.{{cite web |last1=Hamilton|first1=Alexander|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0057|title=The Farmer Refuted|date=February 26, 1775|access-date=January 15, 2025}} When Washington spoke of his need for reliable information from within New York City in 1776, after the Continental Army was driven out, Hamilton (who was then an officer on Washington's staff) recommended Mulligan due to his placement as tailor to British soldiers and officers.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/herculesmulligan00obri/mode/2up|title=Hercules Mulligan, Confidential Correspondent of General Washington|last=O'Brien|first=Michael Joseph|date=1937-01-01|publisher=P. J. Kenedy & Sons|edition=1st|page=89|language=en}}

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.{{cite news|last1=Troy|first1=Gil|title=Hercules Mulligan: The Spy Who Saved George Washington—Twice|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/06/hercules-mulligan-the-spy-who-saved-george-washington-twice.html|website=The Daily Beast|date=6 February 2016 |access-date=6 February 2016}}

Mulligan's slave, Cato, was a Black Patriot who served as a 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 detained. In 1778, Cato was granted his freedom in return for his service during the war. He was discharged in 1783 and moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts.{{Cite book |last=Deetz |first=James F. |author-link=James Deetz |title=In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life: An Archaeology of Early American Life |title-link=In Small Things Forgotten |date=August 1, 1996 |publisher=Anchor Books |isbn=9780385483995 |edition=Expanded |location=New York |pages=189}}

After the Revolutionary War

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Mulligan was cleared of suspicions of possible Loyalist sympathies after the British evacuated New York City and General Washington entered it at the end of the war, when Washington had breakfast with him on the day after.Chernow, Ron. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4iafgTEhU3QC&pg=PA185 Alexander Hamilton]. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0-14-303475-9}}. Originally published New York, Penguin Press, 2004. p. 185.

On January 25, 1785, Mulligan, Alexander Hamilton, and John JayChernow, 2005, p. 214. became three of the 19 founders of the New York Manumission Society, an early American organization founded to promote the abolition of slavery.

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 grave stone located in the southwest quadrant of the churchyard bearing Mulligan's name.{{cite web | url=http://feniangraves.net/Mulligan,%20H/Mulligan,%20%20H..htm | title=Hercules Mulligan (1740-1825) | publisher=Fenian Graves Association | access-date=6 February 2016 | author=Ó Coısdealha, Tomás | website=Fenian Graves | date=15 November 2008}}

In popular culture

The Culper Ring is depicted in the AMC American Revolutionary War spy thriller period drama series, Turn: Washington's Spies, based on Alexander Rose's historical book Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring (2007).Andreeva, Nellie. [https://deadline.com/2013/07/tca-amc-picks-up-halt-catch-fire-turn-to-series-550123/ AMC Picks Up ‘Halt & Catch Fire’ & ‘Turn’ To Series]. Publisher: Deadline. Retrieved August 7, 2013. Mulligan and Cato are portrayed in the fourth and final season.{{cite web |title=TURN: Washington's Spies - Belly of the Beast |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6139218/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast |website=imdb.com |access-date=6 July 2020}}

In the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton and its 2020 film release, Mulligan was portrayed by actor Okieriete Onaodowan, who also played James Madison.{{cite web | url=http://www.playbill.com/production/hamilton-richard-rodgers-theatre-vault-0000014104 | title=Hamilton @ Richard Rodgers Theatre | work=Playbill | date=2016 |access-date=2018-03-16}} Mulligan appears in the first act of the play as a friend of Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, and Marquis de Lafayette, working as a tailor's apprentice and subsequently a soldier and spy in the American Revolution. He features prominently in the songs "Aaron Burr, Sir," "The Story of Tonight" (and its reprises), and "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)". Mulligan initially had a rap that explained his withdrawal from the army, which was eventually cut in order to elaborate on his role of spy in Yorktown.

In 2019, a spirits brand named after Mulligan was established. It is a blend of rum and rye whiskey.{{cite magazine |last1=Chan |first1=Tim |title=How a Character in 'Hamilton' Inspired the Rebirth of a Rum and Rye Whiskey |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/product-recommendations/lifestyle/hercules-mulligan-rum-rye-whiskey-review-1232637/ |access-date=15 January 2025 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=19 October 2021}}

Hercules Mulligan

Early life

Involvement in the American Revolution

After the Revolutionary War

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading