Born: 1756
Birthplace: Coventry, CT
Died: 22-Sep-1776
Location of death: New York
Cause of death: Execution

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Spy

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Had but one life to give for his country

Nathan Hale, an American hero of the War of Independence, was born at Coventry, CT and educated at Yale, then becoming a school teacher. He joined a Connecticut regiment after the breaking out of the war, and served in the siege of Boston, being commissioned a captain at the opening of 1776. When Heath's brigade departed for New York he went with them, and the tradition is that he was one of a small and daring band who captured an English provision sloop from under the very guns of a man-of-war. But on the 21st of September, having volunteered to enter the British lines to obtain information concerning the enemy, he was captured in his disguise of a Dutch school-teacher and on the 22nd was hanged. The penalty was in accordance with military law, but young Hale's act was a brave one, and he has always been glorified as a martyr. Tradition attributes to him the saying that he only regretted that he had but one life to lose for his country; and it is said that his request for a Bible and the services of a minister was refused by his captors. There is a fine statue of Hale by Macmonnies in New York.

Father: Richard Hale
Mother: Elizabeth Strong Hale
Brother: Enoch

    University: Yale University (1773)

Is the subject of books:
Nathan Hale, 1901, BY: H. P. Johnston

Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile

Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications