Hercules Mulligan, Confidential Correspondent of General Washington

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 06565 3443 GC 929.2 M9174QM HhTercules cJxCulligan zAuTHOR OF A Hidden Phase of American History Irish Pioneers in Kentucky The McCarthys in Early American History In Old New York George Washington s Associations with the Irish Pioneer Irish in New England An alleged First Census of the American People and numerous contributions to the subject of the Irish settlers in the American Colonies, in the Journals of the American Irish Historical Society. * > m&mmM. .MS; > • •' :v:yC<*y xx. «v/ >y. §UA INSCRIPTION ON VAULT IN TRINITY CHURCHYARD. Hercules <JMuUigan CONFIDENTIAL CORRESPONDENT OF GENERAL WASHINGTON By MICHAEL J. O’BRIEN, LL.D. NEW YORK P. J. KENEDY & SONS PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1937, BY P. J. KENEDY & SONS Printed in the United States of America ^Hercules ^hVulligan \ CHAPTER ONE ALONG the toilsome route that I have travelled, in jljL search of the story of the Irish pioneers in Amer¬ ica, I have picked up many interesting fragments of information concerning individual Irishmen which seem to deserve a place in American history. In local annals of the colonial and revolutionary periods, there are sometimes noted instances of men, covered perhaps with vicarious glory, whose names have become household words in the communities where they lived; while in the case of others not less worthy, their activities in the public affairs of the day are almost wholly forgotten or unknown. Of the last mentioned, we find an instance in the person of Hercules Mulligan, a resident of the City of New York for many years before the Revolution, who was active in the political agitation which preceded that momentous conflict, not only as a member of the Sons of Liberty, but of several important Revolutionary Committees, and who ran the risk of prying into the movements of the enemy and conveying the informa¬ tion to the opposing forces. Why a man of this stamp has remained in obscurity cannot readily be understood, but perhaps the cause may be attributed either to a sense of modesty on the part of the individual him- [13] Hercules Mulligan self, who eschewed notoriety, or to the failure of the historians of the Revolution to examine the public rec¬ ords and accord him the credit to which he was entitled. However that may be, the name and fame of Hercules Mulligan are almost entirely unknown in this, the City of his home for more than three quarters of a century, and where he was known and respected by the best ele¬ ments in the community. The Mulligan family has occupied a definite place in Irish history. O’Hart in his Irish Pedigrees says they were originally a Tyrone clan. He enumerates them among "The Principal Families of Ulster” and refers to O’Mulligan as "Chief of the territory of MacCarth- ney,” in the County of Derry. Irish genealogists also show that in ancient days the heads of the sept were Princes of Moyliffey and that their possessions were located in the Counties of Derry, Mayo and Cavan. O’Hart also locates them in Cavan and couples them with the O’Dalys and O’Farrellys as "hereditary bards and historians to O’Reilly.” The O’Mulligans, in fact, are enumerated among the "Bardic families of Ireland” as far back as the ninth century. In ancient Ireland it was a very high honor to be enrolled among the Bards, and it is interesting to note that in the institutions of the country the Bards held a rank equal to the princes and chief nobility. For exam¬ ple, the Bards and Brehons were privileged to dine with the King, and as a mark of distinction they were per¬ mitted to wear six colors in their garments, the Kings [14] Hercules Mulligan themselves not wearing more than six, while military commanders and other public officers, according to their rank and dignities, wore only five, four, three or two colors, as the case might be. From this we see that the O’Mulligans were no "common people” in their native country. There are those who seem to think that the name has anything but a classic sound, and possibly there were Mulligans themselves in Ireland who were of the same way of thinking, for some of the descend¬ ants of the ancient line now bear such anglicized forms of the name as Molyneux and Milligan. It is evident, however, that these names had no special attraction for the branch of the family to which Hercules Mulligan belonged, for except for the dropping of the prefix "O,” they adhered to the name handed down by their ancestors. A few years ago I wrote a short account of Hercules Mulligan for a New York newspaper, and many per¬ sons then enquired "if his given name really were Her¬ cules,” forgetful of the fact that it was not uncommon for some Irish families a century or more ago to give biblical or Grecian Christian names to their children. The fact that he was baptized Hercules would seem to indicate that his father was familiar with Grecian mythology and probably was something of a scholar. In the genealogies of other Irish families, occasional instances are noted of the use of the name Her¬ cules, and of other mythical heroes of ancient days. The name is suggestive of great strength, and indeed [in Hercules Mulligan Hercules Mulligan’s record during the War of the Revolution was quite in consonance with his name, for he proved himself a fearless patriot and a man of great determination and strength of character. It is evident then that he was not inappropriately named, since he is known to have been a man of large stature, and in one of the volumes of Valentine's Manual, there is a reference to Hercules’ son, Colonel John W. Mulligan, who commanded the Fifth New York regiment in 1809, wherein the writer speaks of him as "a man of large proportions and sturdy fibre.” A grandson, Henry Strong Mulligan, is also spoken of in the family as a man of fine physique and imposing presence, and there is a portrait of Charlotte Mulligan, great-granddaugh¬ ter of Hercules, in the Twentieth Century Club at Buffalo, N. Y., of which she was the founder, which shows her to have been a woman of fine proportions and a refined but determined countenance. Comparatively little is known of his early life or par¬ entage. But, according to family records preserved by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Ellen Mulligan Fanning of Flushing, New York, and by his great-grandson, Edward Howell Mulligan of Pasadena, California, he was born on September 25, 1740, at Coleraine, County Antrim, to which place it is said his grandfather re¬ moved in the late years of the seventeenth century. One of his descendants has said that "the family came from Blarney, County Cork,” but that undoubtedly was an error, for it is known that the Mulligans were [16] Hercules Mulligan an old Connaught and Ulster clan. There were Mulli¬ gans enrolled in the Society of United Irishmen, who took part in the Rebellion of 1798, and one of the name belonging to a body of the patriots organized in Antrim, was wounded and captured at the battle of Saintfield in that County in June, 1798. Doubtless, this soldier of freedom was one of the Coleraine family, and I venture to say that, like his kinsman, Hercules was also early imbued with that hatred of British rule which has been grounded into Irish hearts by centuries of oppression. There may have been some tradition in the American branch of the family, that prior to their advent in this country they lived for a time in the town of Blarney, or that they sailed for this country from the nearby port of Cork, which would create the impression that he was a native of that section of the country. Indeed, it would almost seem that before leaving Ireland, Hercules must have kissed some good substitute for the Blarney Stone, if not the original, for he had an unmistakable "touch of the Blarney” in his make-up, which he put to good use in after years in pursuit of the dangerous post of "confi¬ dential correspondent of General Washington.” The genealogical data in the possession of his Ameri¬ can descendants show that Hercules’ grandfather and father were both named Hugh, and that the latter married Sarah Cooke in Ireland. They had three sons, Hugh, Hercules and Cooke, and one daughter, Sarah, all except Cooke born in Coleraine. The precise time of [17] Hercules Mulligan the emigration of the family from Ireland is somewhat in doubt, and it does not seem possible now to ascertain the date from any public records, owing to the absence of emigration statistics. However, their descendants who have kept in touch with the family history inform me that they are thought to have arrived here "about the year 1746,” and we do know that Hercules and his elder brother and sister were settled with their parents in the City of New York when quite young. At the Vestry House of Trinity Parish there is a record of the burial in Trinity Churchyard, on October 13, 1777, of Mrs. Sarah Mulligan, mother of Hercules, at the age of eighty.1 In a "List of Freemen of the City in the year 1747,” now in the custody of the City Clerk, the name was written "Mullaghan,” when Hugh Mulligan was regis¬ tered as a "Freeman” on November 3rd, 1747.2 There can be no doubt that this was the father of Hercules, and the fact that Hugh was made a "Freeman” as early as 1747, in itself is an indication that he was a man of substance and some standing in the community, and it is evident also that the family did not come over as "re- demptioners,” but were able to pay their own way.

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