Hercules Mulligan was a tailor and a spy during the American Revolution. Like Alexander Hamilton, he was an immigrant to the United States, born in Ireland and moving to New York City with his family in 1746. He graduated from King’s College, as did Hamilton, and worked for his father as a clerk in his accounting business. He later opened a tailoring and haberdashery business.
Contrary to the depiction of their meeting in ‘Hamilton the musical’, Alexander met Mulligan shortly after he arrived in New York, many years before Hamilton met Lafayette and John Laurens.
Mulligan was one of the first people in the Sons of Liberty, a secret society that fought British taxation. in August 1775, they successfully raided four British cannons in the Battery and in 1776, the Sons of Liberty stole a statue of King George III and melted it down to make bullets . When Hamilton first came to america, he supported the British. However, after staying with Mulligan, he was persuaded to change his views. Mulligan saved Washington’s life on many occasions. One of these was when a British officer, who used Mulligan as his tailor, informed Mulligan of their plans to capture the general. Washington was quickly informed and changed his plans to avoid capture.
On 25th January 1785, Mulligan became one of the 19 founding members, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, of the New York Manumission Society, an organisation founded to promote the abolition of slavery.
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