Military Myths & Legends: Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was born in Coventry, Connecticut, in 1755 to Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong. He was the great-grandson of Reverand John Hale ,who played a major role in the Salem witch trials of 1692, and the Uncle of orator and statesman Edward Everett, who was the other speaker at Gettysburg. Nathan Hale was destined at birth to occupy a significant position in our fledgling nation's history books.

In 1768, when he was fourteen years old, he was sent to Yale College along with his 16-year old brother, Enoch. Nathan was a classmate of fellow patriot spy Benjamin Tallmadge. The Hale brothers belonged to the Linonian Society of Yale, which debated topics in astronomy, mathematics, literature, and the ethics of slavery. Nathan graduated with first-class honors in 1773 at age 18 and became a teacher. First in East Haddam and later in New London.

Hale probably intended at some time to become a Christian minister, as his brother Enoch did. But, as was almost a custom of the time, he began his active life as a teacher in the public schools. Early in 1774, he accepted an appointment as the teacher of the Union Grammar School, a school maintained by the gentlemen of New London, CT, for the higher education of their children.

In his commencement address, Hale had considered the question of whether the higher education of women was being neglected. In his arrangement with the Union School at New London, it was determined that between the hours of five and seven in the morning, he should teach a class of "twenty young ladies" in the studies which occupied their brothers at a later hour.

And so he was engaged in the year 1774 to educate both girls and boys, which was not a common practice of the day. At the time, the whole country was alive with the movements and discussions which came to a crisis in the battle of Lexington the next year. Hale, though not of age, was enrolled in the militia and was active in the military organization of the town.

As soon as the news of Lexington and Concord reached New London, a town meeting was called. At this meeting, this young man, Nathan Hale, was one of the speakers. "Let us march immediately," he said, "and never lay down our arms until we obtain our independence." He assembled his school, as usual, the next day, but only to take leave of his students. "He gave them earnest counsel, prayed with them, shook each by hand, bade them farewell."

It is said that there is no other record as early as this in which the word "independence" was publicly spoken. It would seem as if the uncalculating courage of a boy of twenty were needed to break the spell, which still gave dignity to colonial submission.

Five of Nathan Hale's brothers fought the British at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19th. Nathan joined them in the Connecticut militia on July 1st. Although his unit participated in the Siege of Boston, Hale remained behind. The reasons remain unclear. It has been suggested that he was unsure as to whether he wanted to fight, or whether he was hindered because his teaching contract in New London did not expire until several months later, in July 1775.

On July 4, 1775, Hale received a letter from his classmate and friend Benjamin Tallmadge, who had gone to Boston to see the siege for himself. He wrote to Hale, "Was I in your condition, I think the more extensive service would be my choice. Our holy Religion, the honor of our God, a glorious country, and a happy constitution is what we have to defend." Tallmadge's letter was so inspiring that, several days later, Hale accepted a commission as 1st Lieutenant in the 7th Connecticut Regiment under Col. Charles Webb of Stamford.

In the following spring, the revolutionary army moved to Manhattan Island to prevent the British from taking over New York City. In September, Gen. George Washington was desperate to determine the location of the imminent British invasion of Manhattan Island and needed a spy behind enemy lines. He asked for a volunteer for an extremely dangerous mission: to gather intelligence behind enemy lines before the coming Battle of Harlem Heights. The now Captain Nathan Hale of the 19th Regiment of the Continental Army stepped forward on September 8th. As the lone volunteer, he subsequently became one of the first known American spies of the Revolutionary War. He was ferried across Long Island Sound into British-held territory on September 12th. This one act of spying, which was immediately punishable by death, posed a great risk to Hale.

Disguised as a Dutch schoolmaster, the Yale University-educated Hale slipped behind British lines on Long Island and then successfully gathered information about British troop movements for the next several weeks. During his mission, New York City and then the area at the southern tip of Manhattan around Wall Street fell to British forces on September 15th. Washington was forced to retreat to the island's north in Harlem Heights (what is now Morningside Heights). On September 21st, 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 the Congress denied this charge. It has also been speculated that the fire was the work of British soldiers acting without orders. In the fire's aftermath, more than 200 American partisans were rounded up by the British.

That same evening Hale was captured behind enemy lines. Several versions of his capture exist. One such account, obtained by the Library of Congress, was written by Consider Tiffany, a Connecticut shopkeeper, and British Loyalist. Tiffany was the grandson of Squire Humphrey Tiffany, the forefather of the Tiffany family in the United States who arrived in America from Yorkshire, England, in 1660. In Tiffany's account, Major Robert Rogers of the Queen's Rangers saw Hale in a tavern and recognized him despite his disguise. After luring Hale into betraying himself by pretending to be a patriot himself, Rogers and his Rangers apprehended Hale near Flushing Bay in Queens, New York. Another story was that his British Loyalist first-cousin, Samuel Hale, was the one who revealed his true identity and betrayed him. The historically-accepted version has him captured while sailing Long Island Sound, trying to cross back into American controlled territory. No official record exists of the exact circumstances leading to Nathan Hale's arrest, although Tiffany's account is recognized as the only existing first-hand account of the capture.

He was taken to the headquarters of the British Commander-In-Chief, Gen. Sir William Howe, in the Beekman House in a rural part of Manhattan, on a rise between 50th and 51st Streets between First and Second Avenues, near where Beekman Place commemorates the connection. Interrogated, confessed, and found guilty, Hale was sentenced to death by hanging the following morning, Sept. 22, 1776.

Word of the execution was brought to Gen. Washington's headquarters shortly after by a British officer, Capt. John Montresor, carrying a flag of truce. Capt. William Hull of the Continental Army was present and recalled the event:  "In a few days an Officer came to our camp, under a flag of truce, and informed Hamilton, then a Captain of Artillery, but afterward the aid of Gen. Washington, that Captain Hale had been arrested within the British lines, condemned as a spy, and executed that morning. I learned the melancholy particulars from this Officer, who was present at his execution and seemed touched by the circumstances attending it."

"He said that Captain Hale had passed through their army, both of Long Island and York Island. That he had procured sketches of the fortifications and made memoranda of their number and different positions. When apprehended, he was taken before Sir William Howe, and these papers found concealed about his person, betrayed his intentions. He at once declared his name, rank in the American army, and his objective in coming within the British lines."

"Sir William Howe, without the form of a trial, gave orders for his execution the following morning. He was placed in the custody of the Provost Marshal, who was a refugee and hardened to human suffering and every softening sentiment of the heart. Captain Hale, alone, without sympathy or support, save that from above, on the near approach of death, asked for a clergyman to attend him. It was refused. He then requested a Bible; that too was refused by his inhuman jailer."

' On the morning of his execution,' continued the officer, 'my station was near the fatal spot, and I requested the Provost Marshal to permit the prisoner to sit in my marquee, while he was making the necessary preparations. Captain Hale entered: he was calm and bore himself with gentle dignity, in the consciousness of rectitude and high intentions. He asked for writing materials, which I furnished him: he wrote two letters, one to his mother and one to a brother Officer.'"

Hale 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), and hanged. He was 21 years old. Bill Richmond, a 13-year-old former slave, and Loyalist who later became a boxer in Europe, was reportedly one of the hangmen, responsible for securing the rope to a strong tree and preparing the noose. The place of Hale's execution lies near the present location of Grand Central Station.

In his memoirs, Capt. Hull quotes Capt. Montresor reporting Nathan Hale's last words as, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Hull's account has, however, been called into question by some historians who point to the fact Hull was not an eyewitness, although he passed along the account of an eyewitness. And while there is no historical record to prove that Hale actually made this statement, there are several other contemporary accounts which seem to bear out Hale's last words, among them:

"However, at the gallows, he made a sensible and spirited speech; among other things, told them they were shedding the blood of the innocent, and that if he had ten thousand lives, he would lay them all down, if called to it, in defense of his injured, bleeding country."
~ Essex Journal, February 13, 1777

"I am so satisfied with the cause in which I have engaged, that my only regret is that I have not more lives than one to offer in its service."
~Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser, May 17, 1781

Whether those were his exact words or not, 21-year old classically-educated Nathan Hale may have been inspired by these lines in English author Joseph Addison's 1713 play 'Cato': "What a pity it is/That we can die but once to serve our country." 

The sole surviving documented statement or first-hand account of Hale's capture or death by a presiding official or eyewitness was entered by Sir William Howe in his Orderly Book on the day of the execution, Sept. 22, 1776: "A spy from the enemy by his own full confession, apprehended last night, was executed this day at 11 o'clock in front of the Artillery Park."