Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Hale is best remembered for his "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" speech before being hanged following the Battle of Long Island.

Widely considered America's first spy, he volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission and was caught and executed. Hale has long been considered an American hero and, in 1985, he was officially designated the State Hero of Connecticut. A large statue of Hale is located outside the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Background

Hale was born in Coventry, Connecticut. In 1769, aged fourteen, he was sent with his brother Enoch to Yale College. He became very close to Benjamin Tallmadge, a fellow student who would later head Washington's intelligence service. The Hale brothers belonged to the Yale literary fraternity, Linonia, which debated topics in astronomy, mathematics, literature and the ethics of slavery. Graduating with first class honors in 1773, Nathan became a teacher, first in East Haddam and later in New London. After the Revolutionary War began in 1775, he joined a Connecticut militia and was elected first sergeant.

When his militia unit participated in the Siege of Boston, Hale remained behind, but, on July 6, 1775, he joined the regular Continental Army's 7th Connecticut Regiment under Colonel Charles Webb of Stamford. He was promoted to captain and in March 1776 commanded a small unit of Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton's Rangers defending New York City. They managed to rescue a ship full of provisions from the guard of a British man-of-war.

Spy

During the Battle of Long Island in August and September 1776, which led to the British capture of New York City, via a flanking move from Staten Island across Long Island, Hale volunteered to go behind enemy lines to report on British troop movements.

Sometime in September, he landed on the north shore of Long Island at what is now called Halesite, New York on Huntington Bay.

He disguised himself as a Dutch schoolteacher, carried his Yale diploma to prove his credentials.

During his mission New York City (then the area at the southern tip of Manhattan around Wall Street) fell to British forces and Washington was forced to retreat to the north tip of Manhattan in Harlem Heights (what is now Morningside Heights). On September 21, a quarter of the lower portion of Manhattan burned in the Great New York Fire of 1776. The fire was later widely thought to have been started by American saboteurs to keep the city from falling into British hands, though Washington and Congress had already rejected this idea. It has also been speculated that the fire was the work of British soldiers (possibly drunk) acting without orders, intending to punish and/or intimidate any remaining Patriots in the city -- with unintended consequences, however.

In the fire aftermath more than 200 American partisans were rounded by the British. Hale was captured near Flushing Bay in Queens, New York.

An account of Nathan Hale's capture written by Consider Tiffany, a Connecticut shopkeeper and Loyalist, was obtained by the Library of Congress. In Tiffany's account, Major Robert Rogers of the Queens Rangers met Hale in a colonial tavern and saw through Hale's disguise of a harmless schoolmaster. After luring Hale into betraying his espionage activities by pretending to be a patriot himself, Rogers and his Queens Rangers later apprehended Hale near Flushing Bay.

British General William Howe had his headquarters in a manor house (called the Beekman Mansion) in a rural part of Manhattan at what is now 51st Street and First Avenue (Manhattan). Hale reportedly was questioned by Howe and physical evidence was found on him. Rogers added information about the case. According to tradition, Hale spent the night in a greenhouse at the mansion and then was marched along Post Road to the Park of Artillery which was next to a public house called the Dove Tavern (at modern day 66th Street and Third Avenue (Manhattan)) where he was hanged.

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The speech

By all accounts, Hale deported himself eloquently before the hanging. But it is not clear if he specifically uttered the famous line:

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

The legend attached to the speech is attributed to John Montresor who was a British soldier assigned to Hale.

Montresor told American William Hull about the event and the speech when he went under white flag to deliver a Howe message to George Washington and Alexander Hamilton ^* Hull (who only had hearsay evidence) was to widely publicize the phrase.

If Hale did give the famous speech, it is most likely he was actually repeating a passage from Joseph Addison's play, Cato, an ideological inspiration to many Whigs:

''How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!
''Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
''That we can die but once to serve our country.

No official records were kept of Hale's speech.

Robert MacKensie, a British officer, has this diary entry for the day:

"He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good Officer, to obey any orders given him by his Commander-in-Chief; and desired the Spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear.”

Hanging site(s)

Besides 66th and Third, there are two other sites in Manhattan that claim to be the hanging site.

A statue designed by Frederick William Macmonnies was erected in 1890 City Hall Park at what was claimed to be the site. No authentic likeness exists and the statue established the Hale's idealized square-jawed image. A plaque erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution hangs on the Yale Club at 44th and Vanderbilt by Grand Central Terminal says the event occurred there.

Nathan Hale's body has never been found. An empty grave cenotaph was erected by his family in Coventry, Connecticut Cemetery ^*

Other statues

A statue of Hale, sculpted around 1898 by Bela Lyon Pratt, was cast in 1912 and stands in front of Connecticut Hall at Hale's alma mater, Yale. Copies of this sculpture stand at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; the Nathan Hale Homestead; the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.; and at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Trivia

The United States Navy submarine USS Nathan Hale (SSBN-623) was named in his honor.
In 1991, a piece for a band called The Nathan Hale Trilogy was written in honor of Hale by James Curnow.
Hale was the uncle of orator and statesman Edward Everett and the grand-uncle of Edward Everett Hale, a Unitarian minister, writer, and activist noted for social causes including abolitionism.
Nathan Hale Middle School in Norwalk, CT (departure point for Hall's ill-fated spy mission) is named after him.
The Nathan Hale Ancient Fife and Drum Corps from Coventry, Connecticut is named after him, and includes a division known as Knowlton's Connecticut Rangers.

External links

Reference

Rose, Alexander. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring. Random House, New York, New York, 2006. ISBN 0-553-80421-9.