Nathan Hale was a schoolteacher when the American Revolution of 1775 broke out. He was commissioned an officer in the Connecticut militia and served in the siege of Boston. In late September 1776, during the Battle of Long Island, 21-year-old Nathan volunteered to cross enemy lines and travel to Long Island to report on British troop movements.
He was given virtually no training for his perilous mission, and was soon discovered and captured by the British. The young spy was interrogated and executed on September 22. On the scaffold he reportedly declared, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
Though Hale was allowed to write letters on the eve of his execution, they were destroyed by his jailer, who felt that “rebels should never know they had a man who could die with so much firmness”.
Picture Credit : Google
