An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir February 2015 www.dfmagazine.ie 28 | W hile the names of Wash- ington, Jefferson and Franklin are forever linked with the foundation of the united States, many lesser known figures played important parts. one such person was Hercules Mul- ligan, a man whose beginnings were very different from those of many other founding fathers. Born in Coleraine, County Antrim, on 25th September 1740, Mulligan immigrated to New York with his family when he was six. While not attaining a college education, Mulligan received a good education under an Irish schoolmaster named James O'Brien. As a young man, Mulligan worked for an importing house on New York's waterfront, where he likely developed his business skills as well as making important connections in the city. He became a skilled tailor and in 1774 he opened a tailor shop on Queen Street that later served as an important location for collecting vital information during the Colonial War. During the 1770s, Mulligan befriended a new West Indian- born immigrant, Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers best known as Washington's aide-de-camp and first Secretary of the US Treasury. Hamilton boarded with Mulligan and remained a lifelong friend. Mulligan's revolutionary credentials were established from an early stage. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and a participant in the 1770 Battle of Golden Hill where British soldiers and colonists clashed. Occurring six weeks prior to the Boston Massacre, the Battle of Golden Hill was arguably the first bloodshed of the Revolution. In 1775 he was appointed to the Revolutionary Committee of Correspondence of the City of New York and also named to the Committee of One Hundred, along with revolutionaries such as John Jay, Alexander McDougall, Francis Lewis, and Philip Livingston. The Irishman was also at the Battery with Hamilton in 1775 when it was bombarded by HMS Asia. Eventually the city was taken over by the British and Mul- ligan found himself living in the middle of a loyalist strong- hold. In a complete failure of intelligence the British and the loyalists failed to connect Mulligan with his previous high- profile revolutionary activities and he continued with his tailor business, the clientele of which included a large number of British officers. Mulligan's likeable personality and the fact that he was friends with prominent loyalists and married to the niece of an admiral in the Royal Navy probably deflected much suspicion. His links with Hamil- ton soon led to Mulligan becoming one of Wash- ington's key 'confidential correspondents' in New York, passing on informa- tion that he gleaned from conversations in his shop. Mulligan regularly sent important informa- tion from within British controlled Manhattan, including a planned Brit- by MARIA VANN, DIRECTOR, IROQUOIS INDIAN MUSEUM, UTICA, NEW YORK HeRcules MulliGAn A Hero of the Revolution Painting depicting (l/r) Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration of Independence, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, dated 1900.

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