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Hercules Mulligan card art from Lost Chapters (Cobalt, Character)
Card art: Hercules Mulligan

Hercules Mulligan: Cobalt Character

Hercules Mulligan was an Irish-born New York tailor, a member of the Sons of Liberty and a friend of Alexander Hamilton. He is remembered as a spy who gathered information from British officers in occupied New York for George Washington, though few documents from the time record his intelligence work.

Cost
2 crystals
Type
Character · Soldier
Power / Health
2 / 1
Color
Cobalt (Thinkers & Dreamers)
Rarity
Common
Set
Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)

On play: your opponent discards a random card.

Revolutionary tailor-spy whose fashionable connections and quick thinking saved Washington twice through strategic eavesdropping.

Real history

The real history

Hercules Mulligan was born in Coleraine, Ireland, in 1740 and came to New York with his family at about age 6. By the 1770s he ran a successful clothing business in Manhattan whose customers included wealthy New Yorkers and British officers. He married Elizabeth Sanders, the niece of a Royal Navy admiral.

Mulligan was an early patriot. He joined the Sons of Liberty and served on New York's revolutionary committees. When young Alexander Hamilton came to study at King's College, now Columbia University, he boarded with Mulligan, and the two became friends.

After Washington's army lost New York in 1776, Mulligan stayed in the British-held city. According to the traditional story, Hamilton recommended him as a source, and Mulligan gathered information by chatting with British officers while fitting their uniforms. An enslaved man in his household named Cato is said to have carried the messages to Washington's camp. Later accounts credit Mulligan with twice warning Washington of plots to capture him, in 1779 and 1781.

Those stories call for caution. A 1780 letter to Washington from Benjamin Tallmadge does mention a "Mr. Mullegan," which supports the idea that he supplied intelligence. But the rescue stories come mainly from accounts written decades later by Hamilton's son and by admiring biographers, and historians have found no primary source that confirms Mulligan's part in them.

After the war Mulligan made clothes for George Washington, and he joined the New York Manumission Society, which worked to end slavery. He died in 1825 and is buried at Trinity Church in Manhattan.

Sources

  1. Hercules Mulligan, American Battlefield Trust
  2. The Legend of Hercules Mulligan, Central Intelligence Agency
  3. The Incredible Story of Hercules Mulligan, Journal of the American Revolution

Checked against these sources on October 2, 2026. Spot a mistake? Report an error. How we check facts.

How the card plays

Hercules Mulligan costs 2 crystals and is a 2/1 Cobalt Soldier. When he enters play, your rival discards a random card from their hand. In Free-for-All, that discard hits each opponent.

The discard is strongest early, before your rival has emptied their hand, or when you suspect they are saving a Counter. Because it is random, it can knock out a key card they were holding back. Pair him with Alexander Hamilton, Advisor, which draws you 2 cards, so your hand grows while theirs shrinks. Hamilton, Immigrant Scholar, Hamilton as a young scholar, is another cheap early play, and Red, White, & Blue gives your characters +0/+1 so Mulligan is not lost to the first 1-damage effect.

  • Playable in decks led by Martin Luther King Jr., Neil Armstrong, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Cobalt.
  • In the Dr. King starter deck (2 copies). Deck code: LC2-BAABAQICAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAQkCCgILAQwBDQIOAg8BEAIRARICEwIUAhUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAEdAR4B3v4
  • In the Armstrong starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-AQABAQECAQMBBAEFAQYBBwEIAgkCCgILAQwBDQIOAQ8BEAERARICEwIUARUBFgEXARgBGQEaARsBHAIdAR4BfQK1eQ
  • A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.

Questions about Mulligan

Did Hercules Mulligan really save George Washington?

Possibly, but it is not proven. The stories of him warning Washington about capture plots in 1779 and 1781 come from accounts written decades later, and no primary source confirms his part in them.

How did Hercules Mulligan know Alexander Hamilton?

Hamilton boarded with Mulligan in New York while studying at King's College, now Columbia University, and the two stayed friends. Tradition says Hamilton later suggested Mulligan as a source of intelligence.

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