Phillip Roe as supporters of the spy ring, with Nathaniel providing intelligence and Phillip material aid. The letter also provides evidence that the Culper Ring operated in Drowned Meadow beyond Setauket and Oyster Bay, as previously believed. The letter is housed in the William L. Clements library at the University of Michigan, where it was discovered by a former resident of Port Jefferson researching the Culper Ring. Hercules Mulligan and Cato Hercules Mulligan was recruited to spy for the Continental Army in New York City by Alexander Hamilton. Born in 1740, he was a friend of Townsend's father and an active member of the Sons of Liberty. He had taken in the orphaned Hamilton when Hamilton arrived in New York in 1773 to attend King's College, and he had later helped Hamilton obtain a commission in the army. He was married to Elizabeth Sanders, daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, and he also had a fashionable clothing business near Robert Townsend's establishment. These things gave him access to officers who would openly talk to him about military matters. Mulligan began his activities in late 1776 or early 1777, well before the formation of the Culper Ring. Historian Stephen Knott says that Mulligan cooperated with the Culper Ring but mostly operated as a lone agent. Alexander Rose states that Mulligan gave Townsend information which Townsend added to his reports. Mulligan's slave Cato was his "faithful accomplice" in his intelligence activities. In January 1779, Cato delivered a message from Mulligan to George Washington's aide Alexander Hamilton that the British planned to kidnap or kill American leaders, including Washington and New Jersey Governor William Livingston. Mulligan had received the information from his brother Hugh, who worked as a contractor for the British Army through the firm Kortright and Company. The British arrested Mulligan on suspicion of espionage after Benedict Arnold defected in New York. Townsend ceased his activities for a time for fear that he would also be discovered. Woodhull passed on the information concerning Townsend's dejection and concern over the arrest of "one that hath been ever serviceable to this correspondence." Arnold did not have any hard evidence against Mulligan, so he was released, but he may have spent as many as five months in prison, until February 1781. Undeterred, he continued to pick up intelligence after his release. Mulligan discovered that the British planned to ambush Washington while he was on