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by Mary J. Ortner, Ph.D. |
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Captain Nathan Hale
New England
Rangers
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Nathan Hale was a young man who had every prospect
for a happy and fulfilling life. Contemporary
accounts indicate that he was kind, gentle,
religious, athletic, intelligent, good looking and
as one acquaintance testified, “the idol of all his
acquaintances.” Both men and women commented on his
striking appearance. He had fair skin and hair,
light blue eyes, and stood just under six feet tall.
No wonder it was said that all the girls in New
Haven were in love with him. While many were
impressed by his kindness and strong Christian
ideals, he was also known for his skill in
wrestling, football, and broad jumping.
Yet in spite of the above, this remarkable young man
ended his life in the most ignominious manner known
to his era: death by hanging – the ultimate
degradation – reserved only for the most despicable
of criminals. He risked this fate willingly to serve
a cause as yet unproven or established, a cause more
likely to be soon annihilated. Nathan Hale is
representative of many young eighteenth century
professionals who were obsessed with being of
service for the public good, who – foreshadowing a
twentieth century brand of patriotism – asked not
what their country could do for them but rather what
they could do for their country.
Nathan Hale of Coventry, Connecticut was born in
1755 into two respectable New England families. His
parents, Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong Hale,
were staunch Puritans who believed in religious
devotion, work ethic, and education. The sixth of
ten surviving siblings, he was tutored by the local
minister, Rev. Dr. Joseph Huntington, who greatly
influenced his love of learning. In 1769, both
Nathan and his brother, Enoch, were sent to Yale
College at the ages of 14 and 16, respectively. They
became part of the shining Class of 1773, many of
whom were destined to have remarkable careers in the
service of their country, their state, and their
communities.
During his college years, Nathan was exposed to the
cosmopolitan atmosphere of New Haven and to many
new, progressive ideas of the eighteenth century. It
was doubtless a different world from the isolated
farming community where he had been raised. Both
brothers belonged to the literary fraternity,
Linonia, which debated educational topics and issues
of the day – including astronomy, mathematics,
literature, and the ethics of slavery. Meetings were
held in the students’ rooms at New College – a large
brick dormitory in the center of campus. This
beautiful building, where Nathan and Enoch were
roommates, still stands on the Yale campus
(Connecticut Hall). His time was full of activity,
strong friendships, and varied interests, including
helping to establish Yale’s first secular library.
Nathan graduated from Yale with first honors at the
age of eighteen, participating in the 1773
commencement debate: Whether the education of
daughters be not without any just reason, more
neglected than that of sons.
Like many young graduates, Hale took a position
teaching school – first in East Haddam and later in
New London, Connecticut. In rural East Haddam,
however, Hale appears to have been lonely, missing
the lively company of his college friends. New
London was definitely more to his liking – it even
had a newspaper, liberal in character, published by
Timothy Green, a proprietor of the Union School. His
classes consisted of about thirty young men who were
taught Latin, writing, mathematics, and the
classics. In 1774, he also conducted a summer school
for young ladies from 5 to 7 AM. That the young
ladies of New London were willing to attend a 5 AM
class in the classics was perhaps more a tribute to
the schoolmaster’s good looks that any attraction to
the subject at hand. Although he never appears to
have been serious about marriage, during 1774 he was
teased by two former classmates about an infatuation
with his landlord’s niece, Elizabeth Adams. Although
Elizabeth married in 1775, in 1837 she wrote a
stunningly beautiful remembrance of her friend,
Nathan Hale, then dead for sixty-one years.
Nathan enjoyed teaching and his mild manner of
imparting knowledge was greatly appreciated by both
students and parents alike. Consequently, in late
1774 he was offered a permanent teaching position as
the master of the Union School and it appears that
he intended to make teaching his profession. During
this same year, he also joined a local militia and
was elected first sergeant. While his amiability
made him many delightful acquaintances among the
town’s best families, nineteen-year old Nathan Hale
also continued several close friendships with his
former Yale classmates. Their surviving letters tell
of the joys, frustrations, romances, and boredom
experienced by young people on the threshold of life
and painfully impatient for it all to unfold. By the
spring of 1775 therefore, civic-minded Nathan Hale
had many interesting friends, a great job that he
enjoyed, perhaps a girl friend (or more), and an
enjoyable life in a bustling cosmopolitan seaport
city. Everything was going his way.
When war broke out in April, many chapters of
Connecticut militia rushed to Massachusetts to help
their neighbors during the Siege of Boston. Hale’s
militia marched immediately but he remained behind –
perhaps because of his current teaching contract
which did not expire until July, 1775. Or perhaps he
was unsure. Contemporary letters tell of the
conflict that went on in his friends’ minds –
doubtless mirrored in his own – whether to join the
new army and fight in Boston or to keep quiet and
wait. This was not the clear decision we all see
today and these young professionals had a lot to
lose. The new master of a prestigious private school
does not without considerable risk take on the label
of rebel and traitor.
In July 1775, Nathan received a heartfelt letter
from classmate and friend, Benjamin Tallmadge.
Always the pragmatist, Tallmadge had gone to see the
Siege of Boston for himself. Upon his return, Ben
poured out his heart in a letter to Nathan dated
July 4, 1775 – the last year that date would be just
another day. After analyzing the pros and cons of
joining up, Tallmadge finally told Nathan that, in
spite of his friend’s engagement in a noble public
service (teaching school), “Was I in your condition
... I think the more extensive Service would be my
choice. Our holy Religion, the honour of our God, a
glorious country, & a happy constitution is what we
have to defend.” The day after receiving Tallmadge’s
letter, Nathan Hale accepted a commission as first
lieutenant in the 7th Connecticut Regiment under
Colonel Charles Webb of Stamford.
Stationed at Winter Hill, Hale enjoyed military life
and threw himself wholeheartedly into the duties of
a company commander, trying to be a good officer,
yet yielding to and clearly enjoying the new, macho
experiences of camp life. Like most young soldiers,
he complained about his superiors and worried about
his subordinates – on one occasion offering his own
salary to his men if they would stay in the army
another month. Still – he told his friends – he was
enthusiastic, happy to be there, and wouldn’t accept
leave even if he could get one.
When Washington reorganized the army, Nathan
received a captain’s commission in the new 19th
Connecticut Regiment and – to his credit – several
men asked to be placed under his command. In the
spring of 1776, the army moved to Manhattan to
prevent the British from taking New York City.
Nathan spent six months at Bayard’s Mount building
fortifications and preparing for the inevitable
battle. When the British invaded Long Island in
August, 1776, Hale had still not seen combat and his
regiment also missed fighting in the Battle of Long
Island. After almost a year in the army, he had kept
records, drawn supplies, written receipts, and
supervised guard duty. These were not the daring
exploits young men dreamed of when they went to war.
At the beginning of September 1776, with the British
in command of Western Long Island and the rebel army
trying to defend Manhattan, Washington formed The
New England Rangers, an elite, green beret-type unit
under Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton. Hale was invited to
command one the four companies assigned to forward
reconnaissance around the Westchester and Manhattan
shorelines. Meanwhile, Washington desperately needed
to know the site of the upcoming British invasion of
Manhattan Island. The best way to obtain this
pivotal information was to send a spy behind enemy
lines but in honor-conscious eighteenth century
minds, spying was considered to be a demeaning,
dishonest, and indecent activity – unworthy of a
gentleman.
Nevertheless, Knowlton persuaded Nathan Hale to
volunteer for this spy duty behind enemy lines.
Before leaving, Nathan asked his fellow officer and
friend, Captain William Hull, for advice. Hull tried
hard to dissuade him from the dangerous and
controversial mission but in the end Nathan
justified it by saying that any task necessary for
the public good became honorable by being necessary.
This was finally his chance to do something valuable
to the patriot cause.
Accompanied by his sergeant, Steven Hempstead, Hale
left Harlem Village in early September and headed
north along the East River. Although armed with an
order allowing him to commandeer any armed American
vessel, Hale was prevented from crossing to Long
Island by numerous British ships on patrol. He
finally found passage at Norwalk, Connecticut and
crossed the Long Island Sound in a rebel longboat.
Leaving his uniform, commission, silver shoe buckles
and other personal possessions with Hempstead,
Nathan Hale slipped into the darkness at Huntington
Bay, Long Island and dropped out of sight – both to
his friends and to history.
He doubtless spent several days behind enemy lines
in his contrived disguise as an schoolmaster looking
for work. Before he could return with any useful
information, however, the British invaded Manhattan
at Kip’s Bay (East River at 34th Street), taking
most of the island on September 15th and 16th. His
mission negated, Hale may have crossed into
British-occupied New York City presumably to gain
whatever intelligence he could for Washington, who
was now entrenched behind the bluffs at Harlem
Heights. On September 20th, New York City was set on
fire, causing confusion, rioting, and a heightened
alert for rebel sympathizers. By this time, Hale is
thought to have returned to Long Island for a
planned rendezvous with the longboat. On the evening
of September 21, 1776, he was somehow stopped,
perhaps near Flushing Bay, Long Island, by the
Queen’s Rangers, a new company of Loyalists led by
Lt. Col. Robert Rogers (of Northwest Passage fame).
The circumstances of his capture have never come to
light although many theories have been proposed.
Almost immediately after Hale’s death, rumors flew
that he had actually been recognized while
undercover by his first cousin, Samuel Hale, a
dedicated Loyalist then working for the British in
New York. Samuel denied these allegations and what
part, if any, he had in his cousin’s fate has never
been substantiated.
Nathan Hale was immediately brought for questioning
before the British commander, General William Howe,
who had just moved into the Beekman Mansion (51st
Street and 1st Avenue). Intelligence information was
found on his person and since this was not in code
or invisible ink, he was irrevocably compromised.
Hale identified himself, his rank, and the purpose
of his mission, perhaps to regain a semblance of an
honest soldier (rather than a spy). Although Howe
was moved by the young man’s demeanor and
patriotism, he was out of uniform behind enemy
lines. The customs of war were clear and Nathan was
sentenced to hang the next day.
A tradition says that Hale spent the night confined
in a greenhouse on the Beekman estate and that he
was denied a minister or even a bible by the provost
marshal, an unsavory character named William
Cunningham. The next morning, Sunday, September 22,
1776 at 11:00 AM, Nathan Hale was marched north,
about a mile up the Post Road to the Park of
Artillery. It was located next to a public house
called the Dove Tavern (66th Street and 3rd Avenue),
about 5 1/2 miles from the city limits. After making
a “sensible and spirited speech” to those few in
attendance, the former schoolteacher and Yale
graduate was executed by hanging – an extremely
ignominious and horrible fate to one of his time and
class.
Location of Hale's
hanging in modern-day New York:
Whether Hale said that he only regretted having one
life to lose for his country has been debated. The
quote comes from a British engineer, John Montresor,
who kindly sheltered Nathan in his marquee while
they were making preparations for the hanging. Hale
entered and appeared calm, asking Montresor for
writing materials. He then wrote two letters – one
to his favorite brother and classmate, Enoch Hale,
and the other to his military commander (these
letters have never been found and were probably
destroyed by the provost marshal).
Captain Montresor witnessed the hanging and was
touched by the event, the patriot’s composure, and
his last words. As fate would have it, Montresor was
ordered to deliver a message from General Howe to
Washington (under a white flag) that very afternoon.
While at American headquarters, he told Alexander
Hamilton, then a captain of artillery, about Hale’s
fate. Captain Hull found out and went with the
delegation returning Washington’s answer to Howe
whereupon he managed to speak with Montresor. The
British engineer told Hull that Nathan had impressed
everyone with his sense of gentle dignity and his
consciousness of rectitude and high intentions.
Montresor quoted Nathan’s words on the gallows as:
“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for
my country.”
This elegant statement, doubtless paraphrased from
Addison’s popular play, Cato, is the quotation best
remembered from the execution of Nathan Hale. He
must have been telling the British that his cause
still had great merit and that someone like himself
– intelligent, educated, and decent – was willing to
die for it without regret. It should be put in
prospective that the cause was in bad shape in
September 1776. The much-defeated and demoralized
rebel army had been chased into upper Manhattan,
ripe for total destruction by the vastly superior
British forces. Its soldiers were deserting in
droves now – sometimes whole companies at once – and
the end seemed only a matter of time. But Hale told
the British straight – standing on the gallows –
that his country was still worthwhile and worth
dying for.
William Hull later told the world about his friend’s
patriotism, bravery, and sacrifice; however, since
Hull’s account is not that of an eyewitness, many
historians have denied his story as a
unsubstantiated folk legend. If this is true, it
means that either Montresor or Hull lied about
Hale’s last words, which seems like a strange thing
for either of them to do. From a practical
standpoint, it is hard to believe that Hale would
have been so well remembered had he not
distinguished himself in some outstanding manner at
his execution. He was a junior officer of no
significance and even his brief spy mission had
failed.
Another credible statement purporting to be from
Nathan Hale’s execution is found in the diary of Lt.
Robert MacKensie, a British officer in New York at
the time. The diary entry was made on the very day
of Hale’s execution, September 22, 1776: “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.”
This indicates that Hale wanted to be remembered as
a soldier under orders and not a spy.
In conclusion, an insignificant schoolteacher who
never wrote anything important, never owned any
property, never had a permanent job, never married
or had children, never fought in a battle and who
failed in his final mission – made history in the
last few seconds of this life. He is to be admired
because of his courage in accepting a difficult
mission (both dishonorable and dangerous) that he
did not have to do. Then he had the cool and
presence of mind to set the British straight about
American patriotism, literally in the shadow of the
gallows. We don’t know what exactly he said, but it
must have been impressive and Hale deserves to be
remembered for his genuine dedication, his courage,
and his willingness to pay the price with honor and
dignity.
Nathan Hale’s body was left hanging for several days
near the site of his execution and later was buried
in an unmarked grave. He was 21 years old.”
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