Patriot; born in
Coventry, Conn., June 6, 1755; graduated at Yale College in 1773; and taught school till the fight in
Lexington prompted him
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The Hale Homestead. |
to join
Col. Charles Webb's regiment.
He took part in the siege of
Boston; was promoted to captain in January, 1776; and was sent to New York.
In response to a call from
Washington he volunteered to enter the
British lines and procure needed information.
At the house of
Robert Murray, on the Incleberg (now
Murray Hill, in the
city of New York), where
Washington had his headquarters for a brief time while retreating towards
Harlem Heights,
Hale received instructions on duty from the
commander-in-chief.
He entered the
British camp on
Long Island as a plain young farmer, and made sketches and notes unsuspected.
A Tory kinsman knew and betrayed him. He was taken to
Howe's headquarters at the Beekman mansion, and confined in the green-house all night.
He frankly avowed his name, rank, and character as a spy (which his papers revealed), and, without even the form of a trial, was handed over to the provostmarshal (
Cunningham) the next morning (Sept. 22, 1776) to be hanged.
That infamous officer denied
Hale the services of a clergyman and the use of a Bible; but the more humane officer who superintended the execution furnished him with materials to write letters to his mother, his betrothed, and sisters.
These the brutal
Cunningham destroyed before the face of his victim, while tears and sobs marked the sympathy of the spectators.
With unfaltering voice,
Hale said, at the last mo-
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198]
ment, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
Statues of the patriot have been erected in the
capitol in
Hartford and in City Hall
Park, New York City.
