Hercules Mulligan: Difference between revisions

| birth_place = [[Coleraine]], [[Kingdom of Ireland]]

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.<ref name="Brookhiser">{{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}}</ref> 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 [[Columbia University|King's College]] instead, Mulligan's ''alma mater'' in New York City. Mulligan had a profound impact on Hamilton's desire for revolution.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

InThanks to his newfound friend, Alexander Hamilton, in 1765, Mulligan became one of the first colonists to join the [[Sons of Liberty]], a secret society formed to protect the [[Rights of Englishmen|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.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Martin|first1=Paul|title=He saved George Washington's life...twice!|url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/04/this-july-4-let-thank-forgotten-revolutionary-war-hero.html|website=Fox News|date=12 March 2015 |access-date=6 February 2016}}</ref> In August 1775, while under fire from [[HMS Asia (1764)|HMS ''Asia'']], he and a New York volunteer [[Militia (United States)|militia]] company called the [[Hearts of Oak (New York militia)|Corsicans]], captured four British cannons in [[The Battery (Manhattan)|the Battery]].<ref name="Brookhiser"/> In 1776, Mulligan and the Sons of Liberty knocked down a statue of King George III in [[Bowling Green (New York City)|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 and New Jersey campaign|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.{{cn|date=October 2022}} 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 (who was then an officer on Washington's staff) recommended Mulligan due to his placement as tailor to British soldiers and officers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMtQAQAAMAAJ&q=Hamilton+Washington|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}}</ref>

In the 2015 hit [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical ''[[Hamilton (musical)|Hamilton]]'' and its [[Hamilton (2020 film)|2020 film release]], Mulligan was portrayed by actor [[Okieriete Onaodowan]], who also played [[James Madison]].<ref name="playbill-2016">{{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}}</ref> Mulligan appears in the first act of the play as a friend of [[Alexander Hamilton]], [[John Laurens]], and [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|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|"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 campaign|Yorktown]].

[[Category:Kingdom of IrelandIrish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies]]

[[Category:MembersAbolitionists of thefrom New York Manumission SocietyCity]]