Thomas Hickey (18th century)
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Thomas Hickey (?- 1776) was a soldier and one of General George Washington's bodyguards.
During the American Revolution, in the spring and summer of 1776, Hickey, New York governor William Tryon, New York City mayor David Matthews, and approximately one hundred others were conspirators in a miserably bungled plot to kidnap General Washington of the Continental Army and assassinate his chief officers. Hickey, while incarcerated by the Patriots for passing counterfeit money, bragged to his cellmate, Isaac Ketcham, about the plot. Ketcham then revealed the plot to authorities in an attempt to set himself free.
Private Hickey was court-martialed and hanged for mutiny, sedition, and treachery. He was executed on June 28, 1776 which was 4 days before the Declaration of Independence was signed by John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other Patriots.
