Nathan Hale

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Template:Infobox spy Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American Patriot, soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British and executed. Hale is considered an American hero and in 1985 was officially designated the state hero of Connecticut.<ref name="hero"/>

Early life and familyEdit

Nathan Hale was born in Coventry, Connecticut, in 1755, to Deacon Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong, a descendant of Elder John Strong.<ref>The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, Northampton, Mass by Benjamin Dwight, pp. 331–332</ref> He was a great-grandson of Reverend John Hale, an important figure in the Salem witch trials of 1692. He was also the grand-uncle of Edward Everett Hale, a Unitarian minister, writer, and activist noted for social causes including abolitionism. He was the uncle of journalist Nathan Hale, who founded the Boston Daily Advertiser and helped establish the North American Review.<ref name="NAR"/>

In 1769, when Nathan Hale was fourteen years old, he was sent with his brother Enoch, who was sixteen, to Yale College. He was a classmate of fellow Patriot spy Benjamin Tallmadge.<ref name=NHweb/> 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.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

American Revolutionary WarEdit

After the Revolutionary War began in 1775, Hale joined a Connecticut militia unit and was elected first lieutenant within five months.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His company participated in the Siege of Boston, but Hale remained behind. It has been suggested that he was unsure as to whether he wanted to fight, or possibly that 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, & a happy constitution is what we have to defend."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Tallmadge's letter was so inspiring that, several days later, Hale accepted a commission as first lieutenant in the 7th Connecticut Regiment under Colonel Charles Webb of Stamford.

Hale was also a member of Knowlton's Rangers, the first organized intelligence service organization of the United States of America, led by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton. In the spring of 1776, the Continental Army moved to Manhattan to defend New York City against the anticipated British attack. In August, the British soundly defeated the Continentals in the Battle of Long Island via a flanking move from Staten Island across Brooklyn. General George Washington was desperate to determine the location of the imminent British invasion of Manhattan. To that end, Washington called for a spy behind enemy lines, and Hale was the only volunteer.<ref name=":0" />

Nathan Hale commission as captain in the nineteenth regiment of foot.jpg

Commission of Nathan Hale, captain in the Nineteenth Regiment of foot, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb. Signed by John Hancock. January 1, 1776.
Nathan Hale bronze by MacMonnies IMG 3817.JPG

Nathan Hale as depicted in bronze (1890) by Frederick William MacMonnies at the Brooklyn Museum
Beekman House.gif

Beekman House, Manhattan

Intelligence-gathering missionEdit

On September 8, 1776, Hale volunteered to go behind enemy lines and report on British troop movements, which he knew was an act of spying punishable by death. On September 12, he was ferried across Long Island Sound to Huntington, New York on British-controlled Long Island. Hale planned to disguise himself as a Dutch schoolteacher looking for work,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> although he did not travel under an assumed name and reportedly carried with him his Yale diploma bearing his name.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

While Hale was undercover, New York City—then an area at the southern tip of Manhattan, mostly south of what is now Chambers Street—fell to British forces on September 15, so Washington was forced to retreat to the north in Harlem Heights (now Morningside Heights).Template:Sfn 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 in order to keep the city from falling into British hands,<ref name="fire"/> and though setting fire to New York during Washington's retreat had indeed been proposed, Washington and Congress had rejected the idea and denied responsibility. The Americans accused British soldiers of starting the fires without orders from their superiors so they could sack the city.<ref name="fire"/> In the fire's aftermath, more than two-hundred American Patriots were detained by the British for questioning.Template:Citation needed

An account of Hale's capture, later obtained by the Library of Congress, was written by Consider Tiffany, a Connecticut shopkeeper and Loyalist. In Tiffany's account, Major Robert Rogers of the Queen's Rangers saw Hale in a tavern and recognized him. After luring Hale into betraying his allegiance by pretending to be a Patriot himself, Rogers and his Rangers apprehended Hale near Flushing Bay in Queens, New York.<ref name="betray"/> Another story is that Hale's cousin, a Loyalist named Samuel Hale, was the one who revealed his true identity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

British General William Howe had established his headquarters in the Beekman House in a then-rural part of Manhattan, on a rise between what are now 50th and 51st Streets between First and Second Avenues,Template:Sfn near where Beekman Place commemorates the connection. Hale reportedly was questioned by Howe, and physical evidence was found on him. Rogers provided information about the case. According to some accounts, Hale spent the night in a greenhouse at the mansion, while others say he spent it in a bedroom there. He requested a Bible; his request was denied. Sometime later, he requested a clergyman. Again, the request was denied. General Howe did permit him to write letters: one to his brother Enoch and other to his commanding officer, but the next day, they were torn up in front of him by the provost marshal, Captain Cunningham.Template:Citation needed

Death and purported last wordsEdit

File:Nathan Hale hanged by British 1776.gif

The British hang Nathan Hale in New York City, 1776

According to the standards of the time, spies were hanged as illegal combatants. By all accounts, Hale comported himself well before the hanging.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Frederick MacKensie, a British officer, wrote this diary entry for the day:Template:Sfn

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.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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On the morning of September 22, 1776, 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.<ref name=ctssar/> He was 21 years old.

No official records were kept of Hale's final speech. It has traditionally been reported that his last words, either entirely or in part, were: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." The account of the quote originated with British Captain John Montresor, who was present at the hanging. The next day, he spoke with American Captain William Hull under a flag of truce. Hull recorded in his memoirs the following quote by Montresor:

"On the morning of his execution," continued the officer, "my station was near the fatal spot, and I requested the Provost Marshal [William Cunningham] 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. He was shortly after summoned to the gallows. But a few persons were around him, yet his characteristic dying words were remembered. He said, 'I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.Template:'"Template:Sfn{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Because Hull was not an eyewitness to Hale's speech, some historians have questioned the reliability of this account.<ref name=ctssar/>

Over the years, there has been a great deal of speculation as to whether Hale uttered this line or some variation of it.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> If Hale did not originate the statement, it is possible he instead repeated a passage from Joseph Addison's play Cato,Template:Sfn which was widely popular at the time and an ideological inspiration to many Whigs:

<poem>
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. </poem>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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It is almost certain that Hale's last speech was longer than one sentence. Several early accounts mention different things he said. These are not necessarily contradictory, but rather, together they give an idea of what the speech might have been like. The following quotes are all taken from George Dudley Seymour's book, Documentary Life of Nathan Hale, published in 1941 by the author. Enoch Hale, Nathan's brother, wrote in his diary after he questioned people who had been present, October 26, 1776, "When at the Gallows he spoke & told them that he was a Capt in the Cont Army by name Nathan Hale."Template:Sfn The February 13, 1777, issue of the Essex Journal stated, "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 defence of his injured, bleeding Country."Template:Sfn The May 17, 1781, issue of the Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser gave the following version: "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."Template:Sfn

Aside from the site at 66th Street and Third Avenue, two other sites in Manhattan claim to be the hanging site:

City Hall Park, where a statue of Hale designed by Frederick William MacMonnies was erected in 1890<ref name=nym>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Inside Grand Central Terminal<ref name=nym/>

File:Hale Yale plaque.jpg

Yale Club plaque

The Yale Club bears a plaque hung by the Daughters of the American Revolution which states the event occurred "near" the Club.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Yale is Hale's alma mater and the Club is at 44th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, mere feet from Grand Central Terminal. Another account places Hale's execution at Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, but there is no evidence to support this claim.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Hale's body was never found. His family erected an empty grave cenotaph in Nathan Hale Cemetery in South Coventry Historic District, Connecticut.<ref name=NHweb/>

LegacyEdit

Statues and appearanceEdit

File:Nathan-Hale-statue-Chicago-Tribune-Tower-figure.jpg

Statue by Bela Pratt at the Tribune Tower, Chicago

File:Nathan Hale statue at Wadsworth Atheneum.jpg

Statue by Enoch Smith Woods at Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, erected 1894

File:Nathan Hale Statue by Enoch Smith Woods, East Haddam, CT - September 2018.jpg

Bust in East Haddam, Connecticut, sculpted by Enoch Smith Woods between 1885–1900

File:Statue of Nathan Hale at Fort Nathan Hale in New Haven, CT.jpg

Statue by Bela Lyon Pratt at Fort Nathan Hale

File:Nathan Hale statue flanked by two soldiers Yale University 1917.jpg

Nathan Hale statue flanked by Yale servicemen, Yale campus, New Haven, Connecticut, November 1917

File:NathnHalEmbar2.jpg

Marker in Freese Park, Norwalk, Connecticut that is denoted as the embarkation point for Hale's fatal mission

Statues of Hale are based on idealized archetypes; no contemporaneous portraits of him have been found.<ref name=NHweb/><ref name="Seymour1907"/> Documents and letters reveal Hale was an informed, practical, detail-oriented man who planned ahead.<ref name=NHweb/> Of his appearance and demeanor, fellow soldier Lieutenant Elisha Bostwick wrote that Hale had blue eyes, flaxen blond hair, darker eyebrows, and stood slightly taller than the average height of the time, with mental powers of a sedate mind and piousness. Bostwick wrote:<ref name=NHweb/><ref name=AHMweb/>

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Hale has been honored with two standing images:

A statue designed by Frederick William MacMonnies was dedicated on the anniversary of Evacuation Day, November 25, 1893, at City Hall Park, New York.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> The statue established Hale's modern idealized square-jawed image.Template:Citation needed A copy of MacMonnies's statue stands in Williams Park in New London, Connecticut.

A statue of Hale, sculpted 1908–1912 by Bela Pratt, was cast in 1912 and stands in front of Connecticut Hall, where Hale resided while at Yale. Copies of this sculpture stand at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry; the Connecticut Governor's Residence in Hartford, Connecticut; Fort Nathan Hale in New Haven, Connecticut; Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut; the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.; Tribune Tower in Chicago; and at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia.<ref name=CIA>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other statues/markers include:

A statue of Hale with an inscription of his reported last words on the first floor of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford.<ref name="ctgov"/> Statues of Hale are also located in the Tulane University Law School reading room, and at the corner of Summit and Portland Avenues in Saint Paul, Minnesota.<ref>"Nathan Hale". Saint Paul Minnesota. Retrieved September 25, 2017.</ref>
A memorial for him located in Huntington, New York, where he landed for his fatal spying mission.
A historical marker in Freese Park, Norwalk, Connecticut, that is denoted as the embarkation point.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A Template:Convert obelisk known as the Captain Nathan Hale Monument was erected in his honor in 1846 in his birthplace of Coventry, Connecticut.Template:Citation needed

In January 1899 a play based on Hale's life, Nathan Hale by Clyde Fitch, opened at New York's Knickerbocker Theatre, where it played successfully for eight weeks. It then toured for more than a year, with 41-year-old Nat Goodwin playing Hale and Goodwin's wife Maxine Elliott playing Alice Adams.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Namesake itemsEdit

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File:Nathan Hale 1925 Issue-half-cent.jpg

Nathan Hale appeared on U.S. postage stamps issued in 1925 and 1929. The likeness is from a statue by Bela Lyon Pratt.

The hamlet of Halesite, New York (formerly Huntington Harbor) on Long Island is named after Hale. There is a memorial plaque set into a large boulder, which was removed from the beach nearby where Hale is thought to have landed on his fateful mission.
Nathan Hale Army Depot, a U.S. Army installation, is located in Darmstadt, Germany.
Fort Nathan Hale, a Revolutionary War-era fort and historic site in New Haven, Connecticut, is named after him.
The Nathan Hale dormitory on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Connecticut, is named after Hale.
The Nathan Hale dormitory, traditionally a freshman girls' dorm, at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, is named after Hale.
The Nathan Hale Center at Robert Morris University, dedicated in 1971, is a classroom building located on campus.
Nathan Hale Hall is a building at Farmingdale State College in Farmingdale, New York, which is home to Biology and Art Centers.
Nathan Hale Hall is a barracks building at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
Nathan Hale Hall is the main academic building at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut.
The Nathan Hale Memorial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized June 6, 1900, in East Haddam, Connecticut. The ceremony took place at the one-room schoolhouse where he once taught.
High schools named after Hale include Nathan Hale-Ray High School in East Haddam, Connecticut (where he was schoolmaster), Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, Washington, and high schools in West Allis, Wisconsin, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Middle schools named after Hale include Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School in East Haddam, Connecticut; Nathan Hale Middle School in Norwalk, Connecticut (the departure point for his final mission); and Captain Nathan Hale Middle School in Coventry, Connecticut (his birthplace); as well as middle schools in Northvale, New Jersey; Omaha, Nebraska; Cleveland, Ohio; and Crestwood, Illinois.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

There are elementary schools named after Hale in Roxbury, Boston; New London, Connecticut; Enfield, Connecticut; Manchester, Connecticut; Meriden, Connecticut; New Haven, Connecticut; Whiting, Indiana; Schaumburg, Illinois; Lansing, Illinois; Crestwood, Illinois; Chicago, Illinois; Carteret, New Jersey; Northvale, New Jersey; Mesa, Arizona; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The United States Navy submarine USS Nathan Hale (SSBN-623) was named in his honor.
The Nathan Hale Ancient Fife and Drum Corps from Coventry, Connecticut, is named after him and includes a division called Knowlton's Connecticut Rangers.
"Nathaniel Hale" Battalion is the name of the Battalion for Army ROTC based at the University of Connecticut, with Knowlton Company (Company A) at the University of Connecticut and Sillman Company (Company B) at Sacred Heart University.
Campsite Nathan Hale at Baiting Hollow Scout Camp, Baiting Hollow, New York.

BalladsEdit

Two early ballads attempt to recreate Hale's last speech. Songs and Ballads of the Revolution (1855), collected by F. Moore, contained the "Ballad of Nathan Hale" (anonymous), dated 1776: "Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe, Go frighten the slave; go frighten the slave; Tell tyrants, to you their allegiance they owe. No fears for the brave; no fears for the brave.";Template:Sfn and "To the Memory of Capt. Nathan Hale", by Eneas Munson Sr., was written soon after Hale's death:Template:Sfn

Template:Poemquote

Munson had tutored Hale before college, and knew him and his family well, so even though the particulars of this speech may be unlikely, Munson knew first-hand what Hale's opinions were.