HALE, Nathan, American revolutionary officer: b. Coventry, Conn., 6 June 1755; d. New York 22 Sept. 1776. He was graduated at Yale in 1773, and engaged as a teacher, first at East Haddam, and afterward at New London. His parents Intended him for the ministry; but on the Lexington alarm in 1775 he wrote to 'his father, in a Connecticut regiment, saying °that a sense of duty urged him to sacrifice every thing for his country,° and soon after entered the army as lieutenant (1775) and in a few months was promoted to be captain (1776). While with the troops near Boston he was vig ilant and faithful in every point of duty; and according to a tradition of doubtful authenticity, in September 1776, when in New York, he, with an associate,planned and effected the capture of a British sloop laden with provisions, taking her at midnight from under the guns of the man-of-war Asia, and distributing her prize goods to the American soldiers. After the re treat of the army from Long Island, when it was all-important to understand the plans of the enemy, Washington applied for a discreet and practised officer to enter the enemy's lines and procure intelligence, and Hale volunteered for the service. He passed in the disguise of a
Dutch schoolmaster to the British camp and made full drawings and memoranda of all the desired information, but on his return was apprehended and taken before Howe, by whom he was ordered to execution the next morning. He was denied a Bible and the aid of a clergyman; and was hanged, saying with his last breath: of only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.° A statue of Hale by Macmonnies is in City Hall Park, New York, and one by Gerhardt in Hartford, Conn. Con sult the 'Life' by Johnston (1901); Holloway, 'Nathan Hale, the Martyr Hero) (1899) ; Part ridge, 'Nathan Hale, the Ideal (1902).