Derry-born Hercules Mulligan, who died 200 years ago on March 4th, played a significant role in the American War of Independence. He had a deep influence on Alexander Hamilton, spied for George Washington, and is reputed to have saved Washington’s life.
He was born in Coleraine on September 25th, 1740, to Hugh and Sarah Mulligan. The family emigrated to North America in 1746 and settled in New York. After graduating from King’s College (now Columbia University), he worked as a clerk in his father’s accounting business before later opening his own tailoring and haberdashery business. His catering for officers and men in the British army gave him an access he would use to help the cause of American independence.
In October 1773, he married Elizabeth Sanders at Trinity Church, an Anglican church on Broadway. They went on to have five daughters and three sons.
Shortly after Alexander Hamilton arrived in New York, Mulligan’s brother Hugh introduced him to Hercules, who took him on as a lodger. At the time, Hamilton was working for a family firm called Crugers, whom Hercules also knew, and he helped sell some of their goods, the sales of which funded Hamilton’s education and accommodation. Mulligan helped with Hamilton’s education, including placing him under the tutelage of William Livingston of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), who was a leading local American revolutionary. Hamilton eventually chose instead to enrol in Mulligan’s alma mater of King’s College. Mulligan is said to have deeply influenced Hamilton towards engagement in revolutionary activity.
The Derry man who influenced George Washington and Alexander Hamilton - Brian Maye on Hercules Mulligan
The BBC’s national question: Frank McNally on Edna O’Brien and ‘the North of Ireland’
Dictionary on the Double – Frank McNally on the enduring literary life of Patrick Dinneen
‘This wonderful horse seems to have been as remarkable in death as in life’ – Frank McNally on an unbeatable stallion
The Sons of Liberty was a secret society formed to protect the rights of the American colonists against British encroachment on them and Mulligan joined it in 1765. He saw action against British soldiers in 1770 at the Battle of Golden Hill, and he was also part of the New York Committee of Correspondence which co-ordinated opposition to the British in other colonies via written communication. In August 1775, he was part of a New York volunteer militia company that captured four British cannons. The following year, a Sons of Liberty group, including Mulligan, knocked down a statue of King George III in Bowling Green, located at that time next to the site of the original Dutch fort of New Amsterdam (now in Lower Manhattan), and melted the lead to make bullets for use against the British.
When George Washington’s army was driven out of New York following the summer 1776 campaign, Mulligan stayed on in the city and managed to keep under the radar. When Washington made known that he needed reliable information from within the city, Hamilton, then an officer on Washington’s staff, recommended Mulligan as his tailoring business catered for British officers and men. This worked very effectively and Mulligan is reputed to have saved Washington’s life, not once but twice.
Mulligan had a slave, Cato, who was what was called a “Black Patriot” (African-Americans, who sided with the colonists who opposed British rule). He, too, worked as a spy, functioning as a courier who was able to pass safely through British-controlled territory by using his status as a slave. He was thus able to convey intelligence to Washington’s army without fear of being detained. In 1778, he was given his freedom in return for his war service.
The first time Washington was saved was when a British officer, who was getting a coat made by Mulligan, told him of their plan to capture the American general. Mulligan was able to get the information, via Cato, to Washington, who changed his plans to avoid the trap. The second time was when the British learned of Washington’s intention to go to Rhode Island along the Connecticut shoreline. Fortunately, Mulligan’s brother Hugh had responsibility for loading the British boats – he got a message to Hercules who sent Cato to warn Washington, who quickly rerouted.
In January 1785, Mulligan, Hamilton and John Jay became three of the 19 founders of the New York Manumission Society, which was an early organisation set up to promote the abolition of slavery.
After the American victory, Mulligan continued his tailoring business, which prospered. He retired in 1820 and died five years later, aged 84. He was buried in the Sanders vault behind Trinity Church, near to where Alexander Hamilton is buried. Later changes to the church led to the Sanders vault being covered but a gravestone in the southwest quadrant of the churchyard bears Mulligan’s name today.
In the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton, Mulligan appears in the first act of the play as a friend of Hamilton, working as a tailor and subsequently as a soldier and spy in the American Revolution. He features prominently in the songs Aaron Burr, Sir; The Story of Tonight, and Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down).
