Nathan Hale, hanged by British, remembered for last words he probably didn't say
A statue of patriot Nathan Hale, who was caught spying on the British and hanged for treason on Sept. 22, 1776, is outside New York City Hall. Credit: Newsday / Mathew Chayes
The American patriot Nathan Hale was caught 248 years ago this weekend for spying against the British on Long Island — and hanged for treason.
Hale, just 21 years old, had been in the Huntington area for less than a week, disguised as a Dutch schoolteacher, and trying to gather military intelligence for Gen. George Washington.
But he was discovered the night of Sept. 21, 1776, brought before the commander in chief of the British army, and executed Sept. 22.
Although Hale probably never actually uttered the epitaph long attributed to him — “I only regret that I have but one life to give to my country” — and probably wasn’t a very good spy, he is memorialized as an enthusiastic patriot who made the ultimate sacrifice for what would become the United States of America.
"Nathan Hale: American Patriot. Army Ranger. Spy," the CIA says on its webpage.
When he was nabbed, he was carrying hidden papers with sketches of British fortifications and other military secrets and acknowledged he was on a secret mission for Washington.
Much of Hale’s story is apocryphal, or at least debated by historians: Was he actually part of a plot by Washington to burn down New York City, which was about to be lost to the British? Was he captured in Huntington, after being betrayed at a local tavern, or somewhere in what is now New York City? And of course, what were actually Hale’s final words?
A blue-ribbon panel appointed by the Town of Huntington in 1939 to answer some of these questions concluded that the task was impossible.
Here is what is known: Hale was born June 6, 1755, in Coventry, Connecticut, and grew up on a farm with his vehemently patriotic family. He attended Yale, graduated, and later accepted a commission in the Continental Army.
Fast forward to the summer of 1776. On Aug. 27, after losing the Battle of Long Island, Washington was forced to retreat and didn’t know what the British would do next. He asked Hale’s regimental commander to find a volunteer to spy.
Hale stepped up.
Accompanied by a sergeant, Hale left camp at Harlem Heights about Sept. 12, and traveled to Connecticut to cross Long Island Sound and avoid running into the British. He found an armed sailboat to get them to Huntington and got to the beach of what is now Huntington Bay. The rest is history.
Even had Hale not been caught and hanged, a Newsday look into Hale’s life found in 2021 that the intelligence he had gathered wouldn’t have been of much use, due to the rapid advance of the British.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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