John W. Mulligan (April 13, 1774 – January 17, 1862) was an 18th-century attorney who had been Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's secretary. Later in life, he was U.S. Consul in Athens, Greece. Early life John W. Mulligan was born on April 13, 1774, in New York City. He was the son of Hercules Mulligan (1740–1825), an Irish-American tailor and spy during the American Revolutionary War, and Elizabeth Saunders Mulligan. When Alexander Hamilton was a student at Columbia College, he boarded with Hercules Mulligan. Later, Hercules Mulligan managed a store at 3 Vesey Street. In 1791, Mulligan graduated from Columbia College where he had studied law, and was for a period a law clerk for Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton's family papers show that John Mulligan was an intimate friend of both Alexander Hamilton and his son. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Soon after graduation, Mulligan met Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. Around the same time John Mulligan met Charles Adams, the son of then-Vice President John Adams and they lived together until late 1792. The future president did not approve of the intense nature of their relationship and insisted that Adams and Mulligan split up. Both men wrote to Steuben who offered them to live with him. Steuben wrote to Mulligan:"Philadelphia, January 11, 1793. Your letter of the 7th was handed me yesterday by Mr. Hamilton. In vain, my dear child, should I undertake to explain to you the sensation which the letter created in my heart. Neither have I the courage to attempt to arrest the tears you have so great reason to shed. For a heart so feeling as yours this was the severest of trials, and nothing but time can bring consolation under circumstances so afflicting. Strength of mind in enfeebled by griefs of this nature; but, my friend, one ought not to suffer it to be entirely extinguished, for it is the duty of a sensible man to cherish the heavenly fire with which we are endowed by Providence. Despite moral philosophy I weep with you, and glory in the human weakness of mingling my tears with those of a friend I so tenderly love. My dear Charles ought, ere this, to have received my answer to the touching letter he wrote. I repeat my entreaties, to hasten your journey to Philadelphia as soon as your strength permits. My heart and my arms are open to receive you. In the