How an Irish tailor named Hercules Mulligan, and his accomplice, an enslaved man named Cato, twice saved George Washington from capture during the Revolutionary War. Hercules Mulligan was born in Coleraine, of what was then called County Londonderry to Episcopalians Hugh and Sarah Mulligan, on September 25, 1740. He opened his first shop on Water Street near the Mulligan home, and then later relocated to 23 Queen Street (today’s Pearl Street). Mulligan and Cato not only saved Washington but also secured the force that would help bring about the end of the war. Mulligan retired at age 80, and died just a few years later, in 1825, at the age of 84.