Class '^ T.ZO 
 
 Book. .\ H^ &1 
 
 Gpightm 
 
 COFVRIGHT DEPOSm 
 
25 CENTS. 
 
 Nathan Hale,!,'?^. •* 
 
 riartyr opy. 
 
 NATHAN HALE MONUMENT, NEW YORK 
 
 'no 
 
 With Incidents of the Devolution, 
 
 BY CHARLES W. BROWN. 
 
 New York: 
 
 J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 
 57 Rose Street. 
 
SECOND COPY, 
 1699. 
 
 
 BIRTHPLACE OF NATHAN HALE, 
 
NATHAN HALE 
 
 THE MARTYR SPY. 
 
 An Incident of the Revolution. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES W. BROWN. 
 
 •' I wish to be useful. If the exigencies of my country 
 demand a peculiar service, its claims to the perform- 
 ance of that service are imperious." — Nathan Hale. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 THE SUNNYSIDE SERIES. No. 107. July, 1899. Issued Quarterly. 
 
 $1.00 per year. Entered at New York Post-Office as second-class matter^ 
 
 (Copyright 1899, by J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company.) 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 
 57 Rose Street. 
 
38.717. 
 
 kVa COPIES R£CulV&D. 
 
 ^rO^n^"^ 
 
TO 
 
 THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION 
 
 THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. paok 
 
 Interview of Captain Daniel Thurston Wandell 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 ''Possessing Genius, Taste and Order, He Became 
 Distinguished as a Scholar " 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "Let Us Organize and Drill as We March, and 
 Never Lay Down Our Arms Until We Have 
 Gained Our Independence " 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 "I Will Undertake It " /46) 
 
 CHAPTER V. "^ 
 
 "He Fitted All the Requirements Contained in 
 Washington's CaU for a Volunteer " 66 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 "I Regret that I Have But One Poor Life to Lose - 
 for My Country" / 8 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 " Ye Come with Hearts that Oft Have Glowed at 
 His Soul-Stirring Tale, to Wreath the Deathless 
 Evergreen Around the Name of Hale " 103 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Conclusion — Eulogiums. 123 
 
 Henry J Raymond 130 
 
 Benson J. Lossing 132 
 
 Chauncy M. Depew , 126 
 
 Washington Irving 133 
 
 Henry Cabot Lodge 135 
 
 Isaac Hinton Brown 137 
 
NATHAN HALE, 
 
 THE MARTYR SPY. 
 
 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 In the fall of 1868 there appeared in a 
 Newark, New Jersey, paper the following 
 interview reminiscent of the scenes and 
 incidents of the stirring days of Wash- 
 ington. The author has taken the liberty 
 to expunge all that does not relate to the 
 Revolution and the two most dramatic 
 incidents that occurred during the for- 
 mative period of American independence. 
 In addition there have been merged into 
 one account parts of an earlier interview, 
 extracts from private papers, and 
 additional memoranda. Rutin this nar- 
 ration the author reproduces the thought 
 and style of Captain Daniel Thurston 
 Wandell, his maternal great grandfather: 
 
**I was born at New burg, Orange 
 County, New York, the 22d day of Octo- 
 ber, 1770, and am to-day ninety-eight 
 years of age. My father served seven 
 years during the Kevolution in Colonel 
 Malcomb's Second New York Artillery. 
 From 1794 to 1828 my business was on 
 the water, most of the time as captain of 
 a coasting sloop. I was employed by 
 the government in 1812 to transport 
 am-munition and troops on the waters 
 about New York, Baltimore and Phil- 
 adelphia. 
 
 **I recollect well the scenes connected 
 with the capture, the execution and the 
 burial of Major John Andre, eighty-eight 
 years ago the 2d of the present month on 
 Mabie's farm at Tappan. Yes, I have a 
 faint recollection of the execution of 
 Nathan Hale also, though I was but six 
 years old at the time. He was hung in 
 New York City, which was sixty miles 
 down the Hudson from where I was 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 9 
 
 then living. On the day following the 
 evacuation of New York by the British I 
 went down to New York with my father. 
 This was on the 26th of November, 1783, 
 seven years after the execution of Cap- 
 tain Hale. My father took me out to 
 the old Beekman homestead, which was 
 General Howe's headquarters during the 
 greater period of the occupation of the 
 city by the British, but was then, as it 
 had been for the past six months, occu- 
 pied by General Carleton. From there 
 we went over to Colonel Rutger's 
 orchard, which we found crowded with 
 patriotic and loyal citizens desirous of 
 paying their respects to the memory of 
 Captain Nathan Hale. For seven years 
 the city was occupied by the British 
 army and no one was permitted to enter 
 without the necessary papers, or under a 
 flag of truce, and then only under escort. 
 This being the first day following the 
 evacuation, many thousands flocked to 
 
10 
 
 New York to see the changes that had 
 taken place since the city was destroyed 
 by fire the night preceding Hale's execu- 
 tion, and I presume three-fourths of the 
 people that came to New York that day 
 saw the tree on which Captain Hale died 
 the year of the Declaration. 
 
 **The orchard had been well kept by 
 the British, for it was in full bearing in the 
 summer of 1783. I was given two apples 
 by one of Colonel Rutger's slaves, which 
 he said had grown on the tree on which 
 Captain Hale was hung. The old darky 
 was a witness to the execution, and with 
 a cane he carried, touched the limb from 
 which he said the rope was suspended. 
 I was thirteen years old at the time ; con- 
 sequently I have a vivid recollection of 
 the orchard, the tree, the limb, and in 
 my mind I can picture the exact spot 
 where the body of Nathan Hale now 
 rests, for he was buried but a few feet 
 from the tree on which he died. After 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. H 
 
 the lapse of eighty-five years, and the 
 marvelous growth of the city, I would 
 be unable to locate the grave nearer than 
 to say that it was in the vicinity of the 
 present northwest corner of Pike and 
 Monroe streets. 
 
 "The importance of Captain Hale's 
 mission among the British, and his cap- 
 ture and execution caused great sorrow 
 and indignation everywhere. But speak- 
 mg of Andre, whose execution at the 
 hands of the Americans occurred four 
 years after Hale's death: he was im- 
 prisoned in the old Dutch Church in 
 the village of Tappan which was half in 
 New York and half in New Jersey. The 
 gallows was erected about a quarter of a 
 mile from the church. Andre, at his 
 own request, walked to the gallows, being 
 escorted by a few hundred Pennsylvania 
 troops, his coffin at the time being taken 
 in a cart. The gallows stood about two 
 hundred yards from the main road, and 
 
12 NATHAN HALE 
 
 within a few feet of a white oak tree, 
 under which the remains were buried. 
 Being familiar with the execution and 
 burial of Andre, having witnessed both, 
 I was called upon and tendered fifty dol- 
 lars by the authorized agents of the Brit- 
 ish government to point out the grave, as 
 they proposed, they said, to disinter the 
 remains and remove them to England. It 
 is needless for me to say that I refused 
 their offer, though the amount was after- 
 ward raised to one hundred dollars. The 
 grave was fenced in with a rail fence, as 
 the remainder of the field was cultivated. 
 I planted and hoed corn in the adjoining 
 field in my younger days, and had as- 
 sisted in putting in the crop that was 
 ripening at the time Andre was hung. 
 
 *'Itwas about this time that I first saw 
 the great Washington reviewing the 
 Pennsylvania troops stationed at this 
 place (Tappan). General Washington 
 reviewed these troops by walking up and 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 13 
 
 down the line, hat in hand and alone. 
 His hair was powdered. His vest was of 
 buff cloth and he wore knee breeches 
 with white-top boots. His coat was dark 
 blue with yellow fringe and lace trim- 
 mings, and he wore ruffles. I removed 
 to Baltimore in 1788, and while living 
 there I frequently saw Washington and 
 Lady Washington ride by in their chaise. 
 In 1792 I had the honor of voting for 
 General Washington for president, and 
 have voted at every presidential election 
 since. Should my life be spared to vote 
 for General Grant, my first and last votes 
 will be for two great captains— Washing- 
 ton and Grant. 
 
 *'Daniel Thukston Wandell." 
 
 For more than half a century Captain 
 Wandell was one of Newark's most 
 highly esteemd citizens, and though he 
 has been dead a quarter of a century, he 
 lived long enough to realize his desire to 
 
14 
 
 vote for President Grant and in doing so 
 the period of his life overlapped the gen- 
 erations from Nathan Hale to the pres- 
 ent. His vivid recollections of the stir- 
 ring days of the Eevolution and the con- 
 structive period that followed; his in- 
 tense patriotism and loyalty to **01d 
 Glory," which was born June 14, 1777, 
 have given inspiration in the prepa- 
 ration of this work. It has been a source 
 of both pleasure and profit to refer to 
 him as well as to many other published 
 and written incidents of the Revolution 
 coming under the observation of one in 
 whom the author placed implicit confi- 
 dence as to truth and accuracy. He re- 
 grets exceedingly that Captain Wandell 
 did not speak further concerning the 
 capture and excution of Nathan Hale, 
 now that he is about to send forth a 
 brief story of the martyr. 
 
 Our ancestral struggle for freedom — 
 freedom of speech, of thought, of action. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 15 
 
 and form of government, is worthy of our 
 highest consideration, and this attempt 
 to perpetuate the devotion of one of the 
 martyrs of the republic is sent forth 
 with the earnest hope that it may do 
 something toward emphasizing the im- 
 portance of the cause for which our na- 
 tional heroes yielded up their lives. 
 May it be read sympathetically, with 
 charity for its defects, with appreciation 
 of whatever excellence it may possess. 
 
 The reader is left to peruse the follow- 
 ing chapters with a perfect assurance 
 that along with fiction there is combined 
 history, with its four integral parts — 
 romance, annal, biography and memoir. 
 Charles W. Brown. 
 
 Chicago, July 1, 1899. 
 
16 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "possessing genius, taste and oeder, he 
 became distinguished as a scholar." 
 
 Twenty-two miles east of Hartford, 
 Connecticut, in the picturesque County of 
 Toland, the traveler is shown a pleasant 
 dwelling, which he is told was erected 
 more than a century and a half ago. 
 Through the long lapse of time the foun- 
 dation alone has remained intact; repairs 
 and the remodeling necessary to render 
 the old dwelling habitable have left little 
 of the original house to be seen to-day. 
 The general style of colonial architec- 
 ture and the air of refinement, still to be 
 seen all through the New England coun- 
 try, gives the old house and its surround- 
 ings an appearance of thrift and comfort 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 17 
 
 which must have prevailed there in other 
 days. 
 
 This was the Hale homestead. It 
 stood upon a pleasant elevation, pic- 
 turesque almost beyond description, and 
 surrounded by a primeval forest of 
 oak and walnut. A low stone wall, 
 completely covered with ivy, Virginia 
 creeper and wild rose, inclosed the 
 roomy dwelling and its ample lawns, 
 gardens and orchard — a typical New 
 England home, an abode of peace, con- 
 tentment, security and faith. 
 
 Stretching away in all directions, the 
 quiet forests, wrapped in a mantle of 
 fresh color, with here and there fields of 
 waving corn and fragrant buckwheat, 
 which relieved the sameness of the 
 wooded uplands, rejoiced with all nature 
 that this spot and this hour would be 
 made memorable in the annals of our 
 country. COn the 6th of June, 1755, the 
 surrounding landscape must have pre- 
 
18 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 sented a more beautiful aspect than ever 
 before. Let us believe that God smiled 
 approvingly upon the young babe that 
 came to Richard and Elizabeth Hale on 
 that bright morning so long ago, for they 
 were godly people and revered the Bible 
 *'as the voice of God and the observance of 
 the Sabbath as a binding obligation, and 
 family worship and grace before meals 
 as imperative duties and precious obliga- 
 tions." 
 
 Early in life Richard Hale, the father 
 of Nathan, had come from Newberry, 
 Massachusetts, and settled near Coventry 
 in the county of Toland. Here he mar- 
 ried Elizabeth Strong, who we are told 
 was a charming maiden of some eighteen 
 years, and who had been brought up in 
 the strictest Puritan faith. To them 
 were born twelve children, the sixth 
 being a boy whose young life was at 
 times despaired of, and there was little 
 promise of his surviving the period of in- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 19 
 
 fancy; but with tender motherly care 
 and a skillful family physician, he finally 
 struggled through to his second year, 
 when he began to develop, mentally and 
 physically, into a robust youth. 
 
 When yet a mere child he was fond of 
 outdoor sports. He was a fine marks- 
 man, was fond of fishing in summer and 
 skating in winter, and was the swiftest 
 runner and best jumper in Toland County. 
 We are told that it was his delight to 
 place a number of sugar hogsheads, as 
 many as twelve, in a line and with ap- 
 parent ease spring from one into the 
 other, and so on through them all with- 
 out resting or touching his hands to the 
 barrels. Many other stories of his skill 
 as an athlete could be related, but it is 
 sufficient to say that whether in sport or 
 work he was always first among his 
 comrades. 
 
 Inheriting from his parents a strict 
 sense of religious obligation after the 
 
20 
 
 manner of Puritan faith, he likewise in- 
 herited a thirst and aptitude for knowl- 
 edge. His early piety, and the desire of 
 his father to have at least one of his sons 
 enter the ministry, suggested the wisdom 
 of preparing Nathan for this profession. 
 The pastor of the parish church where 
 he had been christened, Dr. Huntington, 
 one of the most learned and eminent 
 Congregational divines and scholars of 
 his time, undertook the pleasant and 
 profitable task of directing his studies 
 and religious training. We know with 
 perfect assurance that Nathan proved 
 an apt and obedient pupil, for at the 
 youthful age of sixteen years and two 
 months he passed the entrance examina- 
 tion to Yale College, being one of the 
 youngest students if not the very young- 
 est that ever entered that famous college. 
 There were but sixty students at Yale 
 the winter of 1771 when Nathan entered, 
 but when he graduated with the highest 
 
THE MARTYR SPY, 21 
 
 honors of his class in September, 1773, 
 there were eighty-four. The thorough- 
 ness of Dr. Huntington's teaching and 
 the excellence of Hale's scholarship dis- 
 played all through his stay at Yale, was 
 apparent from the fact that accompany- 
 ing his certificate of graduation was a 
 statement from each of his teachers, 
 among them one from Dr. Timothy 
 Dwight, who was afterward .president of 
 Yale College, that Nathan Hale was not 
 only the youngest but one of the very 
 best students that ever graduated from 
 Yale College, as shown by the class 
 records. This must have been very en- 
 couraging as well as gratifying to the 
 young student, for it was just two years 
 and eighteen days from the time of his 
 entrance until his graduation at the 
 head of his class— a record that perhaps 
 has never since been equalled at that 
 great university. 
 In addition to his brilliancy of Intel- 
 
22 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 lect, magnificent physique and skill as an 
 athlete, he was one of the most popular 
 students that had ever attended Yale 
 College. He was loved and respected by 
 all the students and tutors alike, and 
 though averse to giving much of his 
 time while he was at college to social 
 affairs, still his great popularity and 
 aflPable disposition made his presence 
 desirable at every social gathering, and 
 he was always a welcome guest at the 
 homes of the best families in New Haven. 
 Dr. Lossing tells us that in 1848 he 
 visited New Haven and stopped at the 
 home of the venerable Eneas Munson, 
 M.D., who had been a surgeon in the War 
 of Independence. Dr. Munson knew 
 Hale well during the latter period of his 
 life at Yale College, for he was a fre- 
 quent visitor at the home of Dr. Mun- 
 son's father. ''I was greatly im- 
 pressed," said Dr. Munson, *'with Hale's 
 scientific knowledge, evinced during his 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 23 
 
 conversation with my father. I am sure 
 he was the equal of Andre in solid ac- 
 quirements, and his taste for art and 
 talents as an artist were quite remark- 
 able. His personal appearance was as 
 notable. He was almost six feet in 
 height, perfectly proportioned, and in fig- 
 ure and deportment he was the most 
 manly man I ever met. His chest was 
 broad, his muscles were firm; his face 
 wore a most benign expression; his com- 
 plexion was roseate; his hair was soft 
 and light brown in color, while his 
 speech was rather low, sweet and musi- 
 cal. His personal beauty and grace of 
 manner were most charming. Why, all 
 the girls in New Haven fell in love with 
 him and wept bitterly when they heard 
 of his sad fate. In dress he was always 
 neat; he was quick to lend a helping 
 hand to a being in distress — brute or 
 human; was always overflowing with 
 
24 
 
 good humor and was the idol of all of his 
 acquaintances." 
 
 This account of the appearance of 
 Nathan Hale by one who knew him per- 
 sonally is the only authentic one extant. 
 From this graphic description it has been 
 possible to produce his image in stone, 
 on canvas and in bronze. No picture is 
 in existence, and so far as has been as- 
 certained, but one was ever taken, and 
 this was lost shortly after the death of 
 its owner. The illustrations usually 
 given and the ones used in this book, to- 
 gether with the busts and statues erected 
 to his memory, were drawn from the de- 
 scription given by Dr. Munson, the style 
 of dress and the manner of wearing the 
 hair being peculiar to the period in which 
 he lived. 
 
 Dr. Jared Sparks, who knew several of 
 Nathan's intimate friends, among whom 
 was Alice Adams to whom Nathan was 
 engaged, said of him: ''Possessing genius. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 25 
 
 taste and order, he became distinguished 
 as a scholar; endowed in an eminent de- 
 gree with those graces and gifts of naiiure 
 which add a charm to youthful excel- 
 lence, he gained universal esteem and 
 confidence. To high moral worth and 
 irreproachable character were joined 
 gentleness of manner, an ingenuous dis- 
 position and vigor of understanding. 
 No young man of his years put forth a 
 fairer promise of future usefulness and 
 celebrity; the fortunes of none were 
 fostered more sincerely by the generous 
 good wishes of his associates and the 
 hopes and the encouraging presages of 
 his superiors." 
 
 While at Yale College, Nathan Hale 
 was instrumental in founding the Lino- 
 nian Society, becoming its first presi- 
 dent. At its anniversary in 1853 Mr. 
 Francis M. Finch read the following 
 beautiful lines in allusion to the martyr: 
 
26 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 *'To drumbeat and heartbeat, 
 
 A soldier inarches by; 
 There is color in his cheek. 
 
 There is courage in his eye, 
 Yet to drumbeat and heartbeat 
 
 In a moment he must die. 
 
 **By starlight and moonlight 
 He seeks the Briton's camp; 
 
 He hears the rustling flag 
 And the armed sentry's tramp; 
 
 And the starlight and moonlight 
 His silent wanderings' lamp. 
 
 *' With slow tread and still tread 
 He scans the tented line; 
 
 And counts the battery guns 
 By the gaunt and shadowy pine; 
 
 And his slow tread and still tread 
 Gives no warning sign. 
 
 **With calm brow, steady brow, 
 He listens to his doom. 
 In his look there is no fear 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. %7 
 
 Nor a shadow trace of gloom ; 
 But with calm brow and steady brow, 
 He robes him for the tomb. 
 
 **In the long night, the still night. 
 
 He kneels upon the sod ; 
 And the brutal guards withhold 
 
 E'en the solemn Word of God ! 
 In the long night, the still night, 
 
 He walks where Christ hath trod. 
 
 '' 'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, 
 
 He dies upon the tree; 
 And mourns that he can lose 
 
 But one life for Liberty ; 
 And the blue morn, the sunny morn, 
 
 His spirit wings are free. 
 
 '*From Fame leaf and Angel leaf 
 
 From monument and urn, 
 The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven, 
 
 His tragic fate shall learn; 
 And on Fame leaf and Angel leaf 
 
 The name of HALE shall burn!" 
 
'^8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LET US ORGANIZE AND DRILL AS WE MARCH, 
 AND NEVER LAY DOWN OUR ARMS UNTIL 
 WE HAVE OBTAINED OUR INDEPENDENCE." 
 
 East Haddam, Connecticut, stands on 
 the left bank of the Connecticut River 
 just below the mouth of the Salmon in 
 the County of Middlesex. Here came 
 Nathan Hale to teach his first school the 
 winter following his graduation from Yale 
 College. This was a *' select" or private 
 school, for there were no public schools 
 in those days. East Haddam was then 
 a place of some importance and consid- 
 erable wealth, and it is not surprising 
 that he should have had *' nearly thirty 
 pupils of all ages, half bemg Latiners," 
 as he wrote in his diary. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 29 
 
 His ability and talents as a school- 
 master attracted wide attention, and be- 
 fore the close of the first year he re- 
 ceived many calls to take charge of 
 schools in various parts of Connecticut; 
 one coming from Newberry, Massachu- 
 setts, where his father was born; but 
 the one that suited him best, per- 
 haps because it was the home of Alice 
 Adams, was New London. The proprie- 
 tors of the Union Grammar School of 
 that place offered him the preceptorship 
 of their school, which Hale accepted in 
 the following language: 
 
 ** Gentlemen: 
 
 *'I am pleased to acknowledge the re- 
 ceipt of your letter which came by recent 
 post, and will not delay longer in coming 
 to a decision as to which school I will 
 keep next term. I will agree to abide by 
 your agreement and terms, and will go 
 to New London within a fortnight to 
 make plans for the conduct of the 
 school. Nathan Hale.*' 
 
30 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 The Union Grammar ISchoolwas an in- 
 stitution of high grade for that period ; 
 it was designed by its proprietors to 
 afford facilities for a thoroughly English 
 education and the classical preparation 
 necessary for entering college. Having 
 but recently graduated from Yale, it was 
 a wise choice in selecting young Hale to 
 become its first teacher in its widened 
 scope, and at the same time it was a high 
 compliment to Hale's ability for one so 
 young and with but one year's experi- 
 ence as a teacher. When he accepted 
 the appointment in April, 1774, he was 
 barely nineteen years of age. **No one 
 could teach in this school," says an early 
 chronicler, "but those whose character 
 would bear the strictest scrutiny, and 
 where Latin, English, writing and arith- 
 metic were taught, and where the salary 
 was seventy pounds ($350) a year, with 
 the privilege of teaching private classes 
 out of the regular school hours." 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 31 
 
 In a letter to his friend, Roger Alden, 
 a classmate at Yale and afterward an ad- 
 jutant in the Continental army. Hale 
 wrote concerning his school at New Lon- 
 don: 
 
 •*New London, May 2, 1774 
 **I am at present in a school in New 
 London. I think my situation somewhat 
 preferable to what it was last winter. 
 My school is by no means difficult to 
 take care of—it consists of about thirty 
 scholars, ten of whom are Latiners, and 
 all but one of the rest are writers. I 
 have a very convenient schoolhouse, and 
 the people are kind and sociable. I 
 promise myself some more satisfaction 
 in writing and receiving letters from you 
 than I have as yet had. 
 
 ** Nathan Hale." 
 
 Colonel Samuel Green, of Hartford, 
 Connecticut, who died in 1862, was one 
 of Hale's pupils at the grammar school, 
 and a short time before his death he 
 said : * * Nathan Hale was a man.peculiarly 
 
32 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 engaging in his manners — these were 
 mild and genteel. The scholars, old and 
 young, were attached to him. They 
 loved him for his tact and amiability. 
 He was wholly without severity, and had 
 a wonderful control over boys." This 
 testimony agrees with many others, so it 
 is not to be wondered at that men would 
 follow wherever he led, whether on the 
 march or on one of his thrilling exploits. 
 
 Hale was much given to throwing his 
 thoughts into rhyme, and more espe- 
 cially while teaching at New London, for 
 his life in the army was too active to in- 
 dulge in such peaceful moods. He had 
 one friend— William Tallmage— a class- 
 mate at Yale, whom we shall read of in 
 a subsequent chapter as one of the cap- 
 tors of Andr6, to whom Hale wrote regu- 
 larly, not infrequently resorting to 
 rhyme as the* 'only way of expressing 
 one's thoughts in tenderest emotion." 
 
 His life at New London was indeed a 
 
UNION GRAMMAR SCHOOL, NEW LONDON, CONN., WHERE 
 NATHAN HALE TAUaHT. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 33 
 
 busy one. An entry in his diary pre- 
 served in the parish church at Coventry, 
 reads: '*A man ought never to lose a 
 moment's time; if he put off a thing from 
 one minute to the next, his reluctance is 
 but increased." Every body in and about 
 New London became attached to him. 
 For a year his life was an uneventful one; 
 he pursued his studies, taught his daily 
 classes, conducted a class of young men 
 and young women in Bibl^ study on Sun- 
 day, and continued his social visitations 
 with scrupulous regularity. His life was 
 not such a busy one, however, but that 
 he found time for the little romances of 
 life. While teaching the Union Gram- 
 mar School he had for one of his pupils 
 Alice Adams, a bright, intelligent girl of 
 sixteen years, said by some authorities 
 to have been his stepsister and by others 
 an adopted sister. She was a native of 
 Canterbury, Connecticut, and was distin- 
 guished for her beauty and refinement. 
 
34 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 An attachment sprang up between 
 them which resulted in an engagement, 
 the fulfillment of which depended upon 
 the fortunes of war. **As soon as our 
 beloved country is free from accursed 
 British rule and the last redcoat has 
 been driven from our shores, I will return 
 to keep my promise." Thus spoke 
 Nathan to Alice when he had fully made 
 up his mind to enlist in the Continental 
 army. In subsequent pages we shall read 
 of her devotion and the part she played 
 in this thrilling life-drama enacted so 
 long ago. 
 
 The war trumpet had not yet sounded, 
 though preparations had been in prog- 
 ress for many months. Old guns and 
 pistols, swords and knives, were put in 
 readiness to be used upon an instant's 
 notice. Hunting was neglected for the 
 drill and target practice. Even business 
 was neglected, for in the shops and on the 
 street corners, wherever men gathered, 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 36 
 
 the sole topic of conversation was **war, 
 cruel, relentless war, as the only means 
 of obtaining our independence." At the 
 grammar school, Hale formed the boys 
 into a company which he drilled during 
 intermissions and on Saturdays, using a 
 written copy of the **manual of arms," 
 obtained from his father who had copied 
 it years before from an old British man- 
 ual, owned by a relative in Newberry, 
 Massachusetts. No attempt was made 
 to conceal this warlike spirit among the 
 boys of New London; in fact it was be- 
 coming epidemic, and it was not long 
 until the contagion spread throughout 
 the colonies. Even the old men, and the 
 boys and girls, too young to realize its 
 meaning, watched the maneuvers of the 
 grammar school boys on the village 
 green with pride and satisfaction. 
 
 There were no railroads, steamboats, 
 telegraphs or telephones in those days, 
 and it was some time before news from 
 
36 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 New York or Boston reached the interior 
 towns and even those along the Sound. 
 Everybody knew, though, that the Brit- 
 ish were landing on our shores, and mass- 
 ing troops in Canada, New Brunswick and 
 Nova Scotia; but aside from putting 
 down local disturbances in a few of the 
 coast cities, and the warlike prepara- 
 tions such as displayed at the grammar 
 school, there was little to foretell the 
 long and bloody War of Independence, 
 **the eight years' struggle," that was 
 soon to involve the two and three-quar- 
 ters million Americans and make every 
 boy a man and every man a patriot, 
 until late in the afternoon of April 21, 
 1775, when a messenger, riding from 
 Boston to New York, stopped at New 
 London long enough to tfill of the won- 
 derful ride of Paul Revere and the fights 
 at Lexington and Concord. 
 
 The news created great excitement in 
 the village, and as the story spread from 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 37 
 
 house to house throughout the surround- 
 ing country, men and boys rushed to the 
 village to learn the truth of the report 
 and to offer their services— their lives if 
 necessary — to avenge the slaughter of 
 their countrymen. Long before night 
 the streets were filled with a crowd of 
 angry yet determined men. Just at sun- 
 set the doors of the courthouse were 
 thrown open and in a few moments the 
 building was filled with patriotic citi- 
 zens, all anxious to give expression to 
 their feelings, and to enroll their names, 
 pledging their lives in the defense of 
 their country. Patriotic speeches were 
 made by nearly a score of citizens, and 
 among them the voice of Nathan Hale, 
 the master of the grammar school, rang 
 through the open windows, out over the 
 heads of the gathering crowds and across 
 the blue waters of the Thames River. 
 With impassioned language and intense 
 earnestness he exhorted the people of 
 
38 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 New London to take action at once. 
 ''Let us organize and drill as we march, 
 and never lay down our arms until ive 
 have obtained our independence,'' said 
 Hale; and the appeal was not in vain. 
 This is said to have been the first public 
 demand for American independence made 
 at the beginning of the great and final 
 struggle. 
 
 A company was immediately formed 
 with the name of Nathan Hale second on 
 the roll. The next morning when the 
 scholars assembled, he told them of his 
 resolve, his hopes and his ambitions; he 
 prayed with them, gave them each good 
 advice, bade them all an affectionate 
 farewell, and with his company marched 
 away to Cambridge (Boston). By some 
 it has been thought that a letter from 
 Alice Adams brought him back to New 
 London in May ; but whatever the cause 
 that called him home, it is a fact that in 
 July we find him a lieutenant in a regi- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 39 
 
 ment commanded by Colonel Charles 
 Webb— ** raised by order of the General 
 Assembly for home defense, or if neces- 
 sary, for the protection of the country 
 at large." 
 
 With Nathan Hale honor was every- 
 thing. Truth and honesty were the twin 
 spirits that directed his every thought 
 and action. Immediately after being ap- 
 pointed lieutenant he addressed the fol- 
 lowing letter to the proprietors of the 
 grammar school: 
 
 ** Gentlemen: Having received infor- 
 mation that a place is allotted me in the 
 army, and being inclined, as 1 hope, for 
 good reasons, to accept it, I am con- 
 strained to ask as a favor that which 
 scarce anything else would have induced 
 me to, which is, to be excused from keep- 
 ing your school any longer. The year 
 for which I engaged will expire within a 
 fortnight, so that my quitting a few days 
 sooner, I hope, will subject you to no 
 great inconvenience. Nathan Hale. 
 
 "New London, Friday, 37th April, 1775." 
 
4 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 The company to which Lieutenant 
 Hale was attached was under the imme- 
 diate command of Major John Latimer, 
 and was to be *' subject to the orders of 
 the Connecticut Council of Safety." 
 Boston was the objective point of the 
 British ; first, owing to its proximity to 
 Canada, Nova Scotia and other British 
 outposts; and, secondly, because of its 
 comparatively isolated position from the 
 center of population, which was then 
 south and west of New York City. 
 Home defense was not deemed as essen- 
 tial as the defense of the coast cities and 
 more especially where the enemy was 
 likely to make its first attack; so, acting 
 under orders from Washington, the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the American army, 
 Colonel Webb's regiment marched away 
 to Boston late in September, 1775. After 
 a long and desperate struggle, lasting 
 from early autumn until late the follow- 
 ing spring, the British and a host of Tories 
 
!« CONGRESS 
 
 Tfc« Otue«*'t> of Ih* Uaited Colonies o» ftm-tiitnfPttrtx MaJ^a£b»ftat-B(vf. Rhode- tjtani. Ctnsxitinu^ 
 fftv-Tork, Xt%i Jer/o- ^e/ffi/xAxi^A- <heCoyn<ies of tf&wnf.ii. Kent, an^ SH^n on DfiatvOrt. Ala^ 
 
 ^JKT 6' repoflng efpecal bu ft •«<!<»« Od«nofio your patMOcifm, valour, condud «ftcl fla«(ity. O 
 ttfte pr*feri»confMut< and «ppolr»iyou lo he <r^,^X*f>w /A ^* ^^^it^^ZfelS^ 
 
 ^^^K^^^y^-^ ^5^».^*.^.;»:?^:^ ^ ^r&>^^ if^^^^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 nth« trmyof theUntu^ Cotcmia r»if«d for tfc* rtctrnc* cl^An^^ricsn Lih«fy en<l 'p.r_r?pcHln4 f«ery 
 ftoMe fr>vaf>oi» thereof Youere lheiifT»rt»car<huII/ trA <Jir.gentfy t8<lifchefge ihediity of l^^^^^icX 
 
 ' by doing «nd pe»fo»ming aJI cmwietcir thjftgj thereunto betongmg /\nd «k« do ftfiflly 
 
 Otar^ «rd f«^uir« all of&Kn u<A foldicn ur^er >«vr command, to b« obotieni to /our cmerv • 
 K.,^^yy^^2^ft/ *-«. And yOtt. •« td cbfcrvcandfollavW fucti OrilirsanddireAionjffcm 
 t«n»# •» ^m» as yoo (hal) fee«it« f»om tM> or a fulunt Congrefo of the United CoIonicSi ot Commtltet of 
 Congr«(» f»T iNst fUTpofe appomfedL o» Comm»txlerinChierfb''theun)ebelngof che armyoftheUfttt^J 
 CefoMCX c» ony ©ih«r yo^r (upcr-or ofbcer. •ceorrfiog to the rulCJatiddifci^Iineof war. In pv/tfWafiWof the 
 fturt repofeJ m y<»<k Tha eon<m>nion (o cDnnnue in (oncff until Kvoke«! by ih(» or a futuns Congrttt 
 
 COPY OF NATHAN HALE'S COMMISSION AS CAPTAIN. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 41 
 
 were driven out of Boston, taking refuge 
 in Halifax. For bravery displayed in 
 this siege Lieutenant Hale was commis- 
 sioned captain by Congress, January 1, 
 1776. 
 
 So earnest and unselfish was Captain 
 Hale's patriotism that when in Decem- 
 ber, 1775, a number of the men in his 
 company, whose term of service had ex- 
 pired or was about to expire, determined 
 to return home, he appealed to their pa- 
 triotism, and their loyalty to their com- 
 rades whose term of enlistment was not 
 half up ; finally he offered to divide every 
 dollar he possessed, including the 
 month's pay he had not yet received, if 
 they would remain until spring. Success- 
 ful in this endeavor as in everything else 
 he undertook, his patriotic utterances 
 moved many to re-enlist. Thus to Nathan 
 Hale is due much credit for the early ex- 
 pulsion of the British from Boston, for he 
 strengthened the patriot cause in their 
 
42 NATHAN HALE 
 
 own hearts, among their own people, and 
 won new and powerful allies across the 
 sea. Had the men whose terms of serv- 
 ice were expiring not been urged, even 
 bribed, by one in whom they had im- 
 plicit confidence, there would have been 
 such a wholesale desertion that the Brit- 
 ish would have observed the demoralized 
 and disorganized condition in the Amer- 
 ican camp and the siege would have been 
 maintained until reinforcements arrived 
 and the patriot army would have been 
 forced to retire in disgrace. 
 
 It was here that Washington became 
 acquainted with Captain Hale and noticed 
 his fitness to command or undertake any 
 perilous mission intrusted to him. It 
 was on Washington's recommendation to 
 Congress that Hale was promoted to a 
 captaincy, and later on we shall see how 
 Hale repaid his commander at a 
 time when such service as he volunteered 
 to perform could apparently save the 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 43 
 
 army and the cause for which he staked 
 his life. 
 
 The following beautiful lines by Will- 
 iam Cullen Bryant were written while 
 the poet was in contemplation of the sac- 
 rifice and patriotic devotion of the early 
 martyrs to the cause of freedom. The 
 character of men like Nathan Hale, if 
 not actually the man himself, undoubt- 
 edly moved the great poet to pen these 
 verses in memory of the martyrs of the 
 Revolution: 
 
 SEVENTY- SIX. 
 
 What heroes from the woodland sprung, 
 When through the fresh-awakened 
 land 
 The thrilling cry of freedom rung. 
 And to the work of warfare strung, 
 The yeoman's iron hand! 
 
 Hills flung the cry to hills around, 
 And ocean mart replied to mart, 
 
44 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 And streams, whose springs were yet 
 
 unfound 
 Pealed far away the startling sound, 
 Into the forest's heart. 
 
 Then marched the brave from rocky 
 steep, 
 From mountain river swift and cold ; 
 The borders of the stormy deep. 
 The vales where gathered waters sleep, 
 Sent up the strong and bold. 
 
 As if the very earth again 
 
 Grew quick with God's creating breath, 
 And from the sods of grove and glen, 
 Kose ranks of lion-hearted men 
 
 To battle to the death. 
 
 The wife whose babe first smiled that day. 
 
 The fair fond bride of yester eve, . 
 And aged sire and matron gray. 
 Saw the loved warriors haste away. 
 And deemed it sin to grieve. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 45 
 
 Already had the strife begun ; 
 
 Already blood on Concord's plain, 
 Along the springing grass had run ; 
 And blood had flowed at Lexington, 
 
 Like brooks of April rain. 
 
 That death stain on the vernal sward, 
 Hallowed to freedom all the shore; 
 In fragments fell the yoke abhorred — 
 The footsteps of a foreign lord 
 Profaned the soil no more. 
 
46 NATHAN HALE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 **I WILL UNDERTAKE IT ! — THE SOLDIER 
 SHOULD NEVER CONSULT HIS FEARS 
 WHEN DUTY CALLS." 
 
 After the expulsion of the British 
 from Boston, and their return from Nova 
 Scotia, where they had been reinforced 
 by six shiploads of hired Hessians, New 
 York became the objective point of at- 
 tack. In order to protect Boston it was 
 necessary to maintain a large army 
 there, which Howe well reasoned would 
 lessen the American forces at New 
 York; then the city could by a com- 
 bined attack on land and water easily be 
 taken. The population of New York 
 at this time was between twenty- 
 one and twenty -two thousand, some 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 47 
 
 smaller than Boston, but less than half 
 the size of Philadelphia which remained 
 the largest city in America until 1820. 
 The commanding situation and compara- 
 tively open harbor and the immense grain 
 and provision trade made the occupa- 
 tion of this city greatly to be desired by 
 Lord Howe. In proportion to its popu- 
 lation, no other city in the colonies con- 
 tained so many British sympathizers as 
 New York. Lord Howe knew this and 
 he brought the combined strength of his 
 army and navy to drive Washington from 
 his seemingly well-fortified position. 
 
 In April, 1776, Captain Hale's regi- 
 ment, under General Heath, reached 
 New York by the way of Norwich, 
 Connecticut, where it had been ordered 
 by Washington to aid him in the defense 
 of that city. At Norwich, Captain Hale 
 left his regiment temporarily to organize 
 a company of Connecticut Bangers, a 
 corps composed of picked men from the 
 
48 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 diflferent Connecticut regiments to be 
 placed under the command of Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Thomas Knowlton, who had 
 distinguished himself in the battle of 
 Bunker (Breed's) Hill. This company 
 of rangers was known as ** Congress' 
 Own." The following month (May) Cap- 
 tain Hale made his way to New York to 
 rejoin his regiment under General Heath. 
 He had no sooner reached New York 
 than he performed a daring feat, that 
 made his name known to every soldier in 
 the Continental army. 
 
 A British sloop, laden with provisions, 
 a small amount of ammunition and about 
 thirty stand of arms, was anchored in the 
 East River under the protection of the 
 guns of the British man-of-war, Asia. 
 General Heath gave Hale permission to 
 attempt the capture of the supply vessel. 
 With a few picked men, probably from 
 Glover's brigade, who were chiefly sea- 
 men, and as resolute as himself, he pro- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 
 
 49 
 
 eeeded in a whaleboat silently at mid- 
 night to the side of the sloop, unob- 
 served by the sentinel on deck. Hale 
 and his men sprang on board, secured 
 the sentinel, confined the crew below 
 the hatches, raised her anchor and took 
 her into Coenties Slip just at the dawn of 
 day (April 20, 1776). Captain, Hale was 
 at the helm. The victors were greeted 
 with loud huzzas from a score of voices 
 when the sloop touched the wharf. The 
 provisions were distributed among Hale's 
 hungry fellow -soldiers, while the sloop, 
 ammunition and guns went to the gen- 
 eral supply depot. 
 
 The success of the undertaking was 
 commended by Washington, for it not 
 only added to their scanty supply of pro- 
 visions, arms, etc., but gave them nearly 
 a score of prisoners to exchange for an 
 even number of their men captured in the 
 attack upon Boston. This was but one 
 of more than a dozen exploits m which 
 
50 
 
 Hale participated during the spring and 
 summer of 1776. He was successful in 
 each and had received the thanks of his 
 commanding officer, the praises of his 
 fellow-soldiers and promotion by a 
 special act of Congress at the request 
 of Washington. 
 
 There was much to be done in the 
 vicinity of New York that year. Wash- 
 ington, with Generals Sullivan, Putnam 
 and Stirling, had been busy for months 
 planning the Long Island campaign 
 which resulted so disastrously to the 
 Americans. At midnight on August 28th 
 a heavy fog rose over New York bay and 
 hid the armies from each other. It con- 
 tinued throughout the entire day and 
 night that followed. On the evening of 
 the 29th the army silently yet quickly 
 commenced embarking from the point 
 now occupied by the Fulton Ferry. The 
 boats moved noiselessly with muffled 
 oars, and in the course of six hours and 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 51 
 
 a half, the whole army, with their bag- 
 gage and munitions, the artillery alone 
 excepted, crossed in safety to New York. 
 Washington had remained until the last 
 company had embarked. He had not 
 slept for forty-eight hours, so great was 
 his anxiety to save his men and add to 
 their comfort in every way possible. 
 
 Secure of his prey, Howe had no sus- 
 picion of what was going on under cover 
 of one of the blackest fogs that ever set- 
 tled over New York bay. Many times 
 during the long struggle the patriot army 
 had cause to believe that their destiny 
 was in the keeping of Providence, but no- 
 where does it appear more convincing 
 than on the day and night of August 
 29, 1776. With three times the num- 
 ber of men, and every man well drilled 
 and well equipped, well clothed and well 
 fed, and having just been victorious in one 
 of the best-planned battles of the war, we 
 do not wonder at the surprise of General 
 
52 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Howe when he awoke on the morning of 
 August 30th to find that his victory on 
 Long Island had not been as complete as 
 he thought it was on the morning of the 
 27th. 
 
 The British army was then thirty 
 thousand strong and lay in intrenched 
 detachments along the shores of New 
 York Bay and the East Kiver, from the 
 present Greenwood Cemetery to Flush- 
 ing and beyond. The soldiers were 
 veterans and were flushed with recent 
 victories on Long Island. They were 
 commanded by able officers and sup- 
 ported by a powerful naval force of half 
 a hundred vessels. The entire army 
 was well equipped with stores, artillery 
 and all munitions necessary for main- 
 taning a long siege or for resisting a sud- 
 den attack on land or water. 
 
 On the other hand the American army 
 was in a demoralized and most perilous 
 condition. The soldiers were in a far 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 53 
 
 worse condition than they were the win- 
 ter before. Their clothing was in rags 
 and they clamored in vain for pay, for 
 blankets, and for satisfying food. One- 
 third of the army, which numbered less 
 than eleven thousand men, were without 
 tents ; one-fourth of them were on the 
 sick roll, and the few well ones were half- 
 starved and in rags. These were some 
 of the conditions our forefathers had to 
 face in their struggle for liberty, that we, 
 their descendants, might reap the reward 
 their lives so dearly purchased. 
 
 About this time Lord Howe was in- 
 structed by the British government to 
 **receive the submission of all rebels who 
 would throw themselves on the king's 
 mercy." To this Washington replied, 
 *'The Americans are simply defending 
 their rights, and having committed no 
 faults, they need no pardon." Hav- 
 ing failed in this offer Howe supple- 
 mented it by offering bounties to those 
 
54 
 
 who would desert the '* rebel cause." 
 There can be little doubt that many of 
 the faint-hearted and skeptical ones did 
 take advantage of Howe's oifer, either to 
 desert, or to enter the British lines to 
 keep from starving, for it is a matter of 
 history that soldiers deserted by com- 
 panies and even by regiments. The army 
 was fearfully demoralized and seemed 
 hourly on the point of dissolution, when 
 Washington called a council of war, Sep- 
 tember 7th, to consider the important 
 questions, '*What shall be done?" 
 "Shall we defend or abandon New 
 York?" 
 
 After a long and exhaustive argu- 
 ment, lasting far into the night, it was 
 decided to defend the city at all haz- 
 ards. Congress had urged that *'care 
 be taken that no damage be done to the 
 city," and they determined to defend it 
 at the cost of their lives. 
 
 Washington had taken up his head- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 55 
 
 quarters at the home of Eobert Murray 
 on Murray Hill, not far from the present 
 site of the Grand Central station, New 
 York. The British ships passed up and 
 down both sides of Manhattan Island; 
 scouts sent out by Washington reported 
 great activity among the British every- 
 where, but they could not penetrate 
 nor even reasonably conjecture their de- 
 signs in this naval display or movements 
 of troops across both rivers. It was of 
 the utmost importance to know some- 
 thing of the enemy's real intentions and 
 thus anticipate their movements in order 
 to compensate for lack of numbers 
 and munitions. Becoming desperate, 
 Washington wrote to General Heath, 
 then stationed at Kingsbridge, a few 
 miles above the city: *'As everything, in 
 a manner, depends upon obtaining intel- 
 ligence of the enemy's movements, I do 
 most earnestly entreat you and General 
 Clinton to exert yourselves to accomplish 
 
;. i, 56 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 this most desirable end. Leave no stone 
 unturned, nor do not stick at expense to 
 bring this to pass, as I was never more 
 uneas}^ than on account of my want of 
 knowledge on this score. Keep constant 
 lookout with good glasses on some com- 
 manding heights t|at look well on the 
 other shore." 
 
 In his perplexity and desperate frame 
 of mind, Washington called another 
 council of war that same night (Septem- 
 ber 12th). He told his officers that he 
 could not procure the least information 
 concerning the intentions of the enemy, 
 and asked the usual questions of late: 
 ^•What shall be done?" *' What can be 
 done?" 
 
 Finally the. council resolved to call 
 for some one to votoriteer to go into 
 the British camps on Long Island 
 and procure if possible the information 
 so eagerly sought by W^ashington. It 
 needed one skilled in military and 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 57 
 
 scientific knowledge; a good draughts- 
 man, one with quick eye, unflinching 
 courage and cool head; a man on 
 whose judgment and fidelity implicit re- 
 liance might be placed ; one with tact, 
 caution and great sagacity. Was there 
 in all the American army a man who 
 possessed half of these requisites? 
 Washington sent for Lieutenant- Colonel 
 Knowlton, to whom he made known his 
 wishes, and asked him to seek for a 
 trustful man for this service either in his 
 own regiment or in any other in the 
 army. **Some one," said Washington, 
 **must penetrate the British camp and 
 lift this veil of secrecy, or the American 
 army is lost," and he did not hesitate to 
 communicate this opinion to his board 
 of officers. 
 
 Summoning a number of officers to a 
 conference at his headquarters, the next 
 day (September 14th) in the name of 
 Washington— the commander-in-chief of 
 
58 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 the American army, Colonel Knowlton 
 called for a volunteer for the important 
 service. The officers were surprised and 
 did not hesitate to express themselves in 
 strong language at the very thought of 
 asking one of their number to descend to 
 the level of a common spy, even to ac- 
 complish so important a task as called 
 for by Washington. Colonel Knowlton 
 again pointed out to them the dire neces- 
 sity of securing this important informa- 
 tion; **for," said he, **not only the lives 
 and fortunes of the entire army are at 
 stake, but our mothers, our wives and 
 our children at home will fall a prey to 
 the desperate and licentious creatures 
 who mainly make up the British army in 
 America." 
 
 It must have been a thought of home 
 and of her whom he had chosen to 
 be his wife when this bitter strife was 
 over, that led Nathan Hale, pale and 
 weak from the effects of a recent illness 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 
 
 brought on by exposure and the lack of 
 proper food, to arise and in a slow, but 
 determined voice to say: 
 
 ''I will undertake it! The soldier should 
 never consult his fears when duty calls/' 
 
 Mr. Stuart says that to appreciate the 
 position of Captain Hale it is necessary 
 to dwell a moment upon it. His was a 
 mission, that of a spy, not only hazard- 
 ous, but also ignominious. In the judg- 
 ment of every civilized nation, in the eye 
 of all national law, the use of spies is 
 deemed *'a clandestine practice and a de- 
 ceit in war." It is a fraud unworthy of 
 an open, manly enemy— scarcely re- 
 deemed in motive by any exigency of 
 danger — and pregnant with the worst mis- 
 chief in stimulating, from a fear of be- 
 trayal, the vengeance of a foe, and in un- 
 dermining those sentiments of honor, 
 which, like gleams of sunlight upon a 
 thunder-clouded sky, tend to soften the 
 blackness of war. 
 
60 
 
 The spy is the companion of darkness. 
 He lurks — or if he moves in the light, it 
 is behind walls, in the shadow of trees, 
 in the loneliness of cliffs, under the 
 cover of hills, in the gloom of ditches, 
 skulking with the owl, the lynx, or the 
 Indian. Or if he enters the camp of an 
 enemy, he insinuates himself and winds 
 treacherously into confidence. If caught, 
 the certain penalty is death on the gal- 
 lows. When Hale arose, the gossip of 
 the indignant ofiicers ceased. 
 
 Astonishment was manifest on all 
 sides, and while a few did not hesitate to 
 appeal to Hale to retract his bold and 
 reckless proffer, the majority of those 
 present knew his determined nature too 
 well to think it advisable to offer a pro- 
 test. They all knew Hale intimately. 
 They loved him, for he had a gentle dis- 
 position, a kind heart, and yet he was 
 the bravest among his fellows. Captain 
 William Hull, a member of Colonel 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 61 
 
 Knowlton's staff, and Hale's most inti- 
 mate friend in the army, and who after- 
 ward became a general in the War of 
 1812, used all the persuasive power at 
 his command to dissuade him from his 
 rash and suicidal resolve. In reply, not 
 to lay aside the dignified and honorably 
 earned title and office of captain for that 
 of a common spy, Hale replied in tones 
 that grow louder as the years roll on : 
 
 '* Every kind of service necessary for 
 the public good becomes honorable by 
 being necessary." 
 
 Then turning to all those assembled, 
 and with no more show of impatience or 
 excitability than he displayed in debates 
 at college, he said: *'Gentlemen, I think I 
 owe to my country the accomplishment 
 of an object so important and so much 
 desired by the commander-in-chief of 
 her armies, and I know of no mode of ob- 
 taining the information than by assum- 
 ing a disguise and passing into the ene- 
 
/ 
 
 I 
 
 62 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 my's camp. I am fully sensible of the 
 consequences of discovery and capture in 
 such a situation. But for a year I have 
 been attached to the army, and have not 
 rendered any material service, while re- 
 ceiving a compensation for which I make 
 no return. Yet I am not influenced by 
 any expectation of promotion or pecu- 
 niary reward. Itvish to be useful; every 
 kind of service for the public good becomes 
 honorable by being necessary. If the exigen- 
 cies of my country demand a pecular service, 
 its claims to the performance of that service 
 are imperious,'' 
 
 To further justify his act in the eyes 
 of his parents and those near and dear to 
 him, he penned these brief lines to his 
 father on the eve of his departure for 
 Long Island: *'A sense of duty urges me 
 to sacrifice everything for my country. 
 I am about to undertake a perilous mis- 
 sion into the enemy's country at the be- 
 hest of my general. I leave to-night, 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 63 
 
 perhaps to return, perhaps not." Well 
 he knew the dangers of the undertaking 
 and the fate in store for him should he 
 be captured in territory held by the 
 enemy. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the aversion, par- 
 ticularly of soldiers, to all those who dis- 
 guisedly enter a military camp to bear 
 off its secrets to an enemy, and the in- 
 stantaneousness with which such per- 
 sons pass from capture to the gallows 
 — as a last resort its employment is urged 
 and is not judged unworthy a great com- 
 mander. The exigency of the American 
 cause would not permit the employment 
 in so important an undertaking of one 
 not skilled as a draughtsman, unprac- 
 ticed in military observation, and least 
 of all a common mercenary, allured by 
 the hope of a large reward. Accurate 
 measurements, estimates of the number 
 of the enemy, their distribution, the form 
 and position of their various encamp- 
 
64 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 ments, the unguarded whispers in camp 
 of officers or men, could not be trusted to, 
 much less accomplished by, the common 
 soldier. Hence, when the most intelli- 
 gent, most methodical, most painstaking 
 scholar, soldier and patriot in the Amer- 
 ican army offered himself to be sent on 
 so perilous a mission, his acceptance by 
 Washington, who knew him both as a 
 man and a soldier, was instantaneous ; 
 so says an early writer. 
 
 Further effort on the part of his com- 
 panions to dissuade him from the under- 
 taking was abandoned, and, accompanied 
 by Colonel Knowlton and Captain Hull, 
 Hale appeared before General Washing- 
 ton at two o'clock the same afternoon to 
 receive in detail the instructions con- 
 cerning his dangerous, though vitally 
 important mission. In addition to the 
 general order from Washington to ** ad- 
 mit Captain Nathan Hale without pass- 
 word or countersign to all friendly 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 65 
 
 camps," he also carried an order from 
 Colonel Knowlton requesting all owners 
 of American vessels to convey him to any 
 point on Long Island, or anywhere else, 
 that Hale might designate. 
 
 Leaving the camp on Harlem Heights 
 at eight o'clock on the night of Septem- 
 ber 15th, Hale was accompanied by his 
 trusted friends, Asher Wright and Ser- 
 geant Stephen Hempstead, members of 
 his own company, who sought permission 
 of Colonel Knowlton to accompany him 
 as far as it was deemed advisable. With 
 prayers and wishes for his safe re- 
 turn. Hale left his companions and 
 friends and passed out into a night 
 wrapped in an impenetrable fog. 
 
66 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 **HE FITTED ALL THE EEQUIREMENTS CON- 
 TAINED IN Washington's call for a 
 
 VOLUNTEER.'* 
 
 In assuming the character of a school- 
 master seeking employment as a loyal- 
 ist disgusted with the *' rebel cause," 
 Hale felt that he could move among the 
 various camps of the British with per- 
 fect freedom and without the slightest 
 danger of suspicion as to his mission or 
 his rank in the army. He had changed 
 from the full regimentals of a captain in 
 the Continental army to the dress of 
 a village schoolmaster, in velvet knick- 
 erbockers with lace collar and cuff's 
 and broad-brimmed felt hat. 
 
 East River and the western end of 
 Long Island Sound were crowded with 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 67 
 
 British cruisers of all sizes, but farther 
 up the Sound where it is approximately 
 twelve miles wide, it was thought to be 
 entirely free from British surveillance; 
 so Hale and his companions decided to 
 make their way to Norwalk, keeping well 
 back from the shore to avert suspicion, 
 should they afterward be seen over on 
 the Island. Without any mishap they 
 reached Norwalk at about noon Septem- 
 ber 16th. After fully explaining his pro- 
 posed plans to Wright and Hempstead, 
 Hale handed his military commission to 
 Wright, together with other valuable 
 papers, with instructions to give them to 
 Captain Hull to be sent to Alice Adams 
 should he not return. He then gave 
 final directions to Hempstead to remain 
 at Norwalk five days, or until September 
 21st, and to send a boat for him early on 
 the morning of that day to a point across 
 the Sound indicated by the use of a 
 .field glass. The spot where the parting 
 
68 
 
 took place was just south of Norwalk on 
 Wilson's Point, and some forty miles 
 northeast of New York City in his native 
 State, Connecticut. 
 
 Authorities are at variance as to Hale's 
 movements after he departed from Nor- 
 walk on the night of September 16th ; but 
 there is a unanimity of opinion as to his 
 being taken across the Sound on the small 
 coasting sloop Huntington, commanded 
 by Captain Enoch Pond, and put ashore 
 at Huntington Bay, not far from where 
 the line separating Queens from Suffolk 
 counties touches the Sound. 
 
 The shore line of Long Island is very 
 irregular, especially along the Sound. 
 For a considerable distance back from 
 the water's edge this unevenness is soft- 
 ened by a dense growth of under- 
 brush and dwarf timber; but the 
 point designated by Hale as the most 
 convenient and easy of approach by 
 Hempstead, was a barren promontory 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 69 
 
 of about five hundred yards shore-line, 
 and rising less than twenty-five feet 
 above the waters of this sheltered inlet. 
 About three o'clock on the morning of 
 September 17th, he passed the tavern of 
 Widow Kachel Chichester, called ''The 
 Cedars," but fearing his disguise so re- 
 cently assumed might not be complete, 
 he did not stop at the tavern, but went 
 on to the farmhouse of one William 
 Johnson, three-quarters of a mile farther, 
 where the road crosses a small stream 
 called Cold Creek, or Spring Hun. Here 
 he breakfasted and was given a bed, 
 where he slept until two hours after sun- 
 rise. Before seeking the British lines 
 he questioned Johnson as to his chances 
 of securing their district school or one in 
 the immediate neighborhood. He learned 
 from Johnson that Widow Chichester, or 
 Mother Chick, as she was familiarly 
 called, kept the tavern at **The Cedars," 
 which was the resort, not only of all the 
 
70 
 
 Tories in the vicinity, but of the British 
 soldiers as well. 
 
 After getting all the information he 
 could with safety from Johnson, he made 
 his way to the British camp, four miles 
 south of *' The Cedars." Here he min- 
 gled freely with the soldiers, learning lit- 
 tle, however, of their movements, owing 
 to the unsettled condition of Howe's 
 plans. Tradition, as well as history, is 
 silent as to Hale's movements for the 
 next two or three days, but in the ab- 
 sence of any positive information we 
 infer that he moved rapidly among the 
 British camps from *'The Cedars" to 
 Brooklyn and back, securing the informa- 
 tion so much desired by Washington. His 
 risk — his watchfulness — his fatigue — 
 his anxiety of mind — his suffering from 
 cold — his loss of sleep — his bivouac by 
 the rock, the fence, upon the tree or in the 
 ditch — his stealthy noting of posts, situ- 
 ations, numbers, plans, by the glare of 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 71 
 
 day, or by the dim moonlight or flicker- 
 ing lantern — his eluding of patrols and 
 guards — his conciliation of camps — all 
 these, the particulars of that vital quest 
 in which Hale was engaged, we are left, 
 says one authority, in the dearth of any 
 memorials, to conjecture. 
 
 By this time Hale felt perfectly se- 
 cure in his disguise and did not hesitate 
 to go and come at will wherever his in- 
 clination suggested . He knew that * * The 
 Cedars" was the rendezvous of the Brit- 
 ish officers, and that all matters of import- 
 ance would likely be discussed there; so 
 on the night of September 20th he went 
 boldly to the tavern, which he had here- 
 tofore avoided, to secure lodging and 
 breakfast. The evening was spent in 
 noisy carousal by the soldiers, and much 
 valuable information must have been 
 disclosed, interspersed with profane 
 stories and vulgar songs by the drunken 
 officers, for it was known that orders 
 
72 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 had been given to**break camp and start 
 for New York City" the following day. 
 This information was carefully noted by 
 Hale who, while he mingled with the 
 officers, refused to drink, or to partici- 
 pate in their drunken toasts to King 
 George. 
 
 It has been asserted, but without any 
 positive proof, that a cousin by the name 
 of William Hale, a rival for the hand of 
 Alice Adams, and a staunch British 
 sympathizer, was at the tavern that 
 night and revealed the identity and evi- 
 dent purpose of Nathan Hale to the Brit- 
 ish. Whatever the facts may be, it is 
 nevertheless true that he was not the 
 direct cause of Hale's arrest and convic- 
 tion, for on the morning of September 
 21, 1776, after a night spent in company 
 with a dozen drunken officers, Hale left 
 the tavern one hour before dawn to look 
 for the boat he had instructed Hemp- 
 stead to have in readiness for him. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 73 
 
 He reached in safety the point on the 
 Sound where he had first landed and 
 where he had directed that the boat 
 should be sent for him. To his great joy 
 he saw a boat with several men in it, 
 moving toward the point designated as 
 the place where he would be waiting to 
 be conveyed back to Norwalk and to his 
 companions who he knew awaited his 
 coming with great anxiety, solicitous 
 not only for his personal safety, but for 
 the information he alone could reveal of 
 the purposes of the enemy. 
 
 Not doubting that it was the boat sent 
 by Hempstead, who he expected would 
 be the first to welcome him back to his 
 companions, he hastened toward the 
 beach; as the boat approached the 
 shore, he was astonished at seeing a 
 barge bearing a score or more of British 
 marines. Seeing his error, he turned to 
 escape, when a voice from the vessel 
 called, ** Surrender or die !" Turning, he 
 
74 
 
 saw a number of men with muskets 
 leveled at him. Kealizing how futile it 
 would be to attempt an escape, he 
 meekly submitted to capture and was 
 taken on board the vessel and conveyed 
 to the British guardship Halifax, com- 
 manded by Captain Quarne, which 
 was anchored two miles east at Lloyd's 
 Neck. 
 
 As has been said, Captain Hale was an 
 accomplished scholar, well versed in 
 Latin, mathematics and mechanical 
 drawing. He fitted all the requirements 
 contained in Washington'' s call for a vol- 
 unteer in respect to "unflinching cour- 
 age, keen intellect, ready tact and a good 
 draughtsman." During the four days 
 spent among the British camps, he had 
 procured much valuable information and 
 had made many important drawings of 
 the position and strength of fortifica- 
 tions, arms and all munitions, accouter- 
 ments, etc. He had taken the precau- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 75 
 
 tion to wear inner soles in his shoes and 
 beneath these he placed all the draw- 
 ings with dimensions and descriptions in 
 Latin and algebraic characters, exe- 
 cuted on very thin paper. Satisfied 
 that he was safe from detection, for he 
 was a full league from the nearest Brit- 
 ish post, it is natural to suppose that he 
 was happy in the thought that his peril- 
 ous mission would soon be ended and 
 that he was about to render to his hon- 
 ored commander-in-chief, Washington, 
 and to his beloved country, the most val- 
 uable service yet attempted by any man 
 in the American army. It was with 
 these thoughts uppermost in his mind as 
 he made his way to the landing that he 
 made the fatal , error of his heroic and 
 almost successful mission. 
 
 After his capture he was conveyed by 
 the Halifax to New York City and taken 
 to Howe's headquarters at Mount Pleas- 
 ant, which was the elegant mansion of 
 
76 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Mr. James Beekman, on the East River, 
 at the foot of the present Fifty-first 
 Street, near First Avenue. Dr. Lossing, 
 whom I have relied upon for informa- 
 tion not easily obtainable from any other 
 source, says: *In 1849 I made a sketch of 
 the Beekman mansion, and of the green- 
 house in 1852, a few days before it was 
 demolished, with all the glories of the 
 garden. At the order of the street com- 
 missioner, streets were opened through 
 the whole Beekman domain. The site of 
 the greenhouse was in the center of what 
 is now Fifty-second Street, a little east 
 of First Avenue. It was erected in the 
 spring of 1764. The mansion was occu- 
 pied during the war as the headquarters 
 of Generals Howe, Clinton and Robert- 
 son. It was the residence of the Bruns- 
 wick General Riedesel and his family in 
 the summer of 1780. General Carleton 
 occupied it in 1783." 
 At the time of Hale's capture and con- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 77 
 
 finement in the greenhouse, the estate 
 was deserted by its staunch Whig owner 
 — James Beekman. 
 
 From the early descriptions given of 
 the mansion and its surroundings it was 
 unquestionably the linest estate in Amer- 
 ica prior to the Kevolution. The green- 
 house, that stood but a short distance 
 from the dwelling, could not have been 
 as ** loathsome" as might be inferred 
 from the writings of some over-zealous 
 chroniclers, yet Paradise would have 
 seemed a place of torment with Cunning- 
 ham in authority. 
 
 Hale had been taken before Lord Howe 
 late on the afternoon of Saturday, Sep- 
 tember 21st. When questioned he frankly 
 admitted his name, his rank in the army 
 and his mission as a spy, said a British 
 officer afterward who was present at the 
 *'trial." He bitterly resented the accu- 
 sation of being a traitor, and said that he 
 had never looked upon King George as 
 
78 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 his sovereign, nor England as having any 
 authority over the colonies. He did ac- 
 cept the brand of spy good-humoredly 
 as he related his success in procuring 
 valuable infonnation in the British 
 camps. He expressed regret that he 
 had not been successful in delivering his 
 information to Washington, and that he 
 had not served his country better. 
 
 The additional evidence was the find- 
 ing of the telltale papers in his shoes, 
 which entitled him to a military trial ac- 
 cording to the rules and usages of war. 
 But this was denied him by Lord Howe, 
 and he was immediately delivered into 
 the custody of the infamous and brutal 
 provost-marshal, William Cunningham. 
 He was placed in the Beekman green- 
 house under a strong guard *'for execu- 
 tion at daybreak to-morrow." These 
 were Howe's last words in the presence 
 of Hale, but he gave detailed instruc- 
 tions to Cunningham as to when and how 
 
THE MARTYR SPY 79 
 
 the execution should be conducted, and 
 urged that all precautions be taken to 
 prevent his escape. 
 
 General Howe, in the flush of his suc- 
 cess, ignored the usages of war— to try 
 men by court-martial before hanging 
 them. So in the case of Nathan Hale, 
 he decreed that the young patriot should 
 die the death of a dog, without trial of 
 any kind. Knowing the character of 
 Cunningham, it was an unworthy, un- 
 gracious and altogether inhuman act to 
 place a fellow -being in the clutches of so 
 fiendish a creature as the notorious Cun- 
 ningham. We must accept with a certain 
 amount of allowance the testimony of 
 an eyewitness to the meeting between 
 Captain Hale and General Howe, when 
 he says: '*I observed that the frankness, 
 the manly bearing and the evident, dis- 
 interested patriotism of the handsome 
 young prisoner sensibly touched a tender 
 chord of General Howe's nature; but the 
 
80 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 stern rules of war concerning such 
 offences would not allow him to express 
 even pity." Had Howe wished to inflict 
 the worst torment possible he could not 
 have devised anything more brutal than 
 to have constituted himself judge and 
 jury, and after listening to the prisoner's 
 testimony, ordered him to be hanged be- 
 fore sunrise. It is no wonder that his 
 conscience troubled him in after years, 
 for we are told that when he had returned 
 to England, and after his retirement 
 from the army, his thoughts often re- 
 verted to scenes and events during the 
 American Kevolution, but the hanging of 
 Nathan Hale without trial or the conso- 
 lations of a spiritual adviser brought sor- 
 row and grief to his last days. 
 
 Doomed as a spy — so young — so fair— 
 With fettered limbs and bosom bare, 
 He stood in the crisp autumn air 
 Beneath the apple bough ; 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 81 
 
 While 'round with taunt and ribald jest, 
 The British redcoats, gloating, pressed. 
 But heaven's bright sunshine crowned 
 and kissed 
 His calm, unruffled brow. 
 
 With patriot spirit kindling high, 
 And proud defiance in his eye, 
 To jibe and jeer he makes reply — ■ 
 
 (Such words forever live:) 
 **My sole regret as here I stand. 
 And wait the hangman's shameful hand, 
 Is that for my dear native land 
 
 I've but one life to give." 
 
 The deed is done; his soul hath flown; 
 And lo! o'er Freedom's mountain throne 
 Another star in luster shone 
 
 Adown the groves of time; 
 To cheer for aye the brave of heart, 
 Who spurn oppression's cruel smart. 
 And rise and rend their chains apart. 
 
 In every race and clime. 
 
82 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 And, oh, Columbia! mother mine- 
 Long may thy shield be freedom's sign, 
 Long may thy navies sweep the brine, 
 
 Thine armies, hill and vale; 
 And when the war drums loudly peal. 
 Nor doubt nor danger can'st thou feel, 
 Bulwari^ed around by hearts of steel 
 
 Like that of Nathan Hale. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 83 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 **I REGRET THAT I HAVE BUT ONE POOR LIFE 
 TO LOSE FOR MY COUNTRY — IF I HAD 
 TEN THOUSAND LIVES I WOULD LAY 
 THEM DOWN, ONE AT A TIME, IN DE- 
 FENSE OF MY INJURED, BLEEDING 
 COUNTRY.*' 
 
 At the same hour that Hale was lying 
 in the greenhouse awaiting his doom, the 
 lower part of the city was being de- 
 voured by flames; a fitting punishment 
 sent by Providence, the patriots thought, 
 to deprive their cruel oppressors of any 
 comforts the city might afford them dur- 
 ing the long winter of 1776 and 1777. 
 Four hundred and ninety-three houses 
 were destroyed and fully one- third of 
 the population of the city, numbering 
 
84 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 over twenty thousand, mostly Tories and 
 British soldiers, were left without shelter 
 and sufficient food, with an early winter 
 just setting in. 
 
 The cause of the conflagration was at- 
 tributed to the "rebel sympathizers," 
 but subsequently it was found bo have 
 started in a low tavern on the wharf, 
 now occupied by the Staten Island Ferry. 
 The open fields to the south and the 
 wide sweeping lawns and high terraces 
 about the old mansion acted as a barrier 
 to the fire's progress; but the heated at- 
 mosphere and dense smoke that reached 
 the Beekman estate only irritated Cun- 
 ningham the more and increased his 
 hatred of Hale and his anxiety to hasten 
 the execution. 
 
 Kegardless of the fact that the morrow 
 would be an autumn Sabbath in a Chris- 
 tian land, and having had his attention 
 called to the impropriety of hanging a 
 **criminal" on the **Lord's Day," Howe 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 85 
 
 dismissed the matter by saying that 
 the case was now in the hands of the 
 provost marshal. There is an abun- 
 dance of evidence to show the brutal 
 character of every man in authority sent 
 over by King George to force the Ameri- 
 cans into submission, and the inhuman 
 Cunningham was only a tool in the hands 
 of his heartless master — Lord Howe. 
 
 During the early morning hours, Hale 
 requested the services of a minister, 
 which were refused him. He then asked 
 for a Bible, which was also denied him. 
 Two hours later he asked permission to 
 write to his mother and sweetheart, and 
 this would also have been refused, had not 
 a young British officer interfered and sug- 
 gested that the letters, after inspection 
 by the provost marshal, could be sent 
 after Hale was executed. Being given a 
 candle and the necessary writing mate- 
 rials. Hale retired to send the last mes- 
 sage to those he loved; for already the 
 
86 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 eastern sky showed faint evidences of 
 the coming day, and when the bright sun 
 should rise, his troubles, his part in the 
 nation's struggles would be over. 
 
 One hour before sunrise the letters 
 were handed Cunningham. Thinking 
 they contained a further confession that 
 would enable him to renew his persecu- 
 tions, he hastily scanned their contents. 
 When he observed the noble and patriotic 
 spirit breathed in every word, every 
 line, he grew furious and with his accus- 
 tomed profane epithets, tore the letters 
 into bits and stamped upon them before 
 the victim of his wrath, announcing at 
 the same time that the rebels should 
 never know they had a man who could 
 die with such firmness. Not one word 
 of protest escaped the lips of Hale, who 
 was resigned to his fate and seemed not 
 to heed the insult or the impending scene 
 that would witness the flight of his spirit 
 from prison walls to the Elysian fields. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY, 87 
 
 The place of execution has long been 
 a subject of conjecture; some contend- 
 ing that it took place on the Beekman 
 estate near where Hale was confined; 
 others that he was executed at the bar- 
 racks near Chambers Street, now the 
 Hall of Records in the City Hall Park 
 where all state criminals were executed, 
 but the generally accepted location was in 
 Colonel Rutger's orchard, whose mansion 
 stood near the present junction of Pike 
 and Monroe Streets, just back from the 
 East River and not more than a mile 
 from the Beekman estate. 
 
 The interview of Captain Wandell, as 
 given in the opening chapter, would it 
 seems, settle this much-mooted question, 
 the importance of which is manifest, 
 since the scene of his execution also 
 fixes the location of his grave, now and 
 for all time to come. Undisturbed for 
 a century and a quarter, his mortal being 
 now mingles with the soil for which he 
 
88 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 gave himself a willing sacrifice, while the 
 influence of his martyrdom will endure 
 forever in the hearts of his countrymen. 
 
 This testimony is further strengthened 
 by Dr. Lossing who says: *'In 1849 I 
 visited the venerable Jeremiah Johnson, 
 ex-mayor of Brooklyn, who was living at 
 his farmhouse not far from the navy 
 yard, then between the city of Brook- 
 lyn and the village of Williamsburg. 
 Among other interesting facts concern- 
 ing the Kevolution of his own experience 
 and observation which he had treasured 
 in his memory was that his father was 
 present at the execution of Captain Hale. 
 Like other Long Island farmers at that 
 time, he went to New York occasionally 
 with truck. On the day of the great 
 fire, he was there, when himself and 
 team were pressed into the service of 
 the British. He was with the detach- 
 ment on Colonel Eutger's farm at the 
 time of the execution and saw the martyr 
 
THE MARTYR SPY 89 
 
 hanged upon the limb of an apple tree in 
 Colonel Rutger's orchard. It was at the 
 west side, not far from the line of (the 
 present" East Broadway." . 
 
 Light was breaking in the east on that 
 beautiful Sabbath morn of September 
 22, 1776, when Nathan Hale was led out 
 for execution. Even at so early an hour 
 as 5 A.M. a large number of men and 
 women were present to witness the sad 
 scene. Cunningham was there to give 
 orders and evidently enjoyed the situa- 
 tion, for in a jocular and scoflSng way he 
 demanded of his victim his *'last dying 
 speech and confession.'* This did not 
 call forth any resentful denunciation or 
 emotional scene on the part of Hale. 
 There on the threshold, on the border- 
 land between life and death he stood be- 
 neath the apple bough a willing sacrifice 
 for the cause and land he loved so well. 
 Hear his last words as he fixes his gaze 
 
90 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 upon a multitude, among whom there was 
 no friend to cheer him on his lonely jour- 
 ney across the dark river: 
 
 ''Farewell: My only regret in dying is 
 that I have hut one poor life to lose for my 
 country. If I had ten thousand lives 1 would 
 lay them down one at a time in defense of 
 my injured, bleeding country.'^ 
 
 These were some of the sentiments 
 contained in Hale's letter to his mother; 
 what more he might have said was cut 
 short by the cruel halter, for before the 
 last word fell on that agitated throng, 
 the fiend Cunningham shouted, '* Swing 
 him oflP!" 
 
 Where is it recorded in history that 
 ever man died with such firmness, such 
 devotion, such love of country? Yet 
 Nathan Hale never saw the flag of the 
 nation he gave his life to save. 
 
 The method employed at military ex- 
 ecutions was either to place a ladder 
 against the tree, force the prisoner to 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 91 
 
 ascend, place the rope about the neck. 
 withdraw the ladder, leaving the victim 
 suspended. Another way was to seat 
 the condemned in a cart and after plac- 
 ing the noose about his neck, drive off, 
 leaving the victim to strangle. History 
 is silent as to which method was em- 
 ployed in the case of Captain Hale. Both 
 seemed quite inhuman, for the victim is 
 left to strangle in either method. We can 
 be sure of one thing, however, and that is 
 that Cunningham adopted the method 
 that would produce the greatest amount 
 of agony — prolonging the suffering for 
 his own fiendish delight, and the 
 gratification of a passion for witnessing 
 human agony second only to the atro- 
 cities attributed to the Aztec priests 
 in the performance of their religious 
 rites, or the horrible saturnalia of Rome 
 under the Caesars. 
 
 It is quite proper to introduce a brief 
 sketch of the fiend in whose charge Na- 
 
92 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 than Hale was placed, to see that Howe's 
 orders were carried summarily into ex- 
 ecution. Some authorities are averse to 
 holding Howe responsible for the inhu- 
 man treatment Hale received during the 
 few hours of his confinement, seeking a 
 pretext in the unproved assertion that 
 Cunningham was employed directly by 
 the British ministry and was independent 
 of the authority of Howe. However that 
 may have been, it is known that Hale's 
 captors took him before Howe, who, with- 
 out advice or council pronounced his sen- 
 tence and handed the prisoner over to 
 Cunningham for execution. Howe, asso- 
 ciated with General Clmton, was com- 
 mander of the British forces in North 
 America, while Cunningham was provost 
 marshal for New York and Philadelphia 
 only, and must have acted under the 
 instructions of his chief— Lord William 
 Howe. 
 Cunningham was described as a large, 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 93 
 
 burly, red-haired, red-faced Irishman, 
 sixty years of age, excessively addicted 
 to strong drink, and with most forbidding 
 features. His cruelties and crimes com- 
 mitted while in charge of prisoners of war 
 in New York were notorious and mons- 
 trous. Upon the scaffold in England, 
 years after the war, he confessed that he 
 had caused the death of fully two thou- 
 sand prisoners under his charge, by star- 
 vation and otherwise. At times he put 
 poison into the food and again he sold 
 their rations, all for his own benefit, 
 allowing the prisoners to starve. 
 
 A further account of Cunningham, one 
 showing his low instincts and brutality, 
 is given to illustrate the character of the 
 men in authority who were striving to put 
 down a rebellion which, if successful, 
 meant our freedom and independence. 
 ** Wonted to sit in his quarters at the Pro- 
 vost, opposite the guard room on the 
 right, and to drink punch till his brain was 
 
94 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 on fire — he would then stagger out into 
 the corridors — followed often by his 
 negro Richmond, the common hangman 
 with coils of rope about his neck, and 
 pouring forth volleys of tempestuous 
 abuse on the wretched sufferers who hap- 
 pened to be outside their cells, drive the 
 'dogs,* as he called them, back to their 
 *kennels,* the 'rebel spawn,' as he varied 
 it, 'into their holes'— or vent his spite, 
 as he passed up and down the hall by 
 kicking over vessels of soup which the 
 charitable sometimes placed there for 
 poor and friendless captives— or clank- 
 ing his keys, reel to the door of the 
 prison, and strain his drunken gaze for 
 fresh victims." 
 
 The dreadful Weyler was moderate in 
 his human sacrifices when compared 
 with Cunningham, who is entitled to the 
 distinction of being styled *'The Modern 
 Nero. " We may derive some satisfaction 
 from the story that his last years were 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 95 
 
 passed in constant fear of death — de- 
 spised, hated and shunned by everybody. 
 He was finally strangled to death for a 
 murder committed years before — a fit- 
 ting end for one of earth's vilest and 
 most atrocious characters. 
 
 Thus ended the life of the young pa- 
 triot and martyr, Captain Nathan Hale. 
 And while his brave mission resulted in 
 failure so far as the objects he sought 
 were concerned, he was successful in 
 arousing the British to a realization of 
 the fact that it was no easy task to con- 
 quer a people who were striving to throw 
 off the yoke of tyranny and oppression 
 that had driven their Old-World ancestors 
 to acts of desperation and kept all Europe 
 in insurrection and revolution for a thou- 
 sand years. The privations and dangers 
 they encountered in the New World only 
 whetted their ambition to build anew a 
 republic that would permit neither idiotic 
 
96 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 king nor debased soldiery to make their 
 laws, nor to aid in their enforcement. It 
 also showed the British that the patriot 
 army, numbering nearly fourteen thou- 
 sand, contained few men who would 
 not sacrifice everything for the cause of 
 liberty and independence. 
 
 The death of Nathan Hale was a sad 
 blow to all of his friends and acquaint- 
 ances, but to none more especially than 
 to Alice Adams, his betrothed. Her con- 
 stant solicitude concerning his dangerous 
 occupation, her devotion that became a 
 part of her life and religion were almost 
 as pathetic as his ignominious death and 
 burial in an unknown grave. After Na- 
 than's death she married Eleazer Eipley, 
 who left her a widow in less than a year. 
 Subsequently she married William Law- 
 rence of Hartford, Connecticutt, where 
 she lived until her death in September, 
 1845. Her last words were, * 'Write to 
 Nathan!" 
 
M 
 
 ^f 
 
 I 
 
 STATUE OF NATHAN HALE IN CITY HALL PARK, NEW YORK. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY, 97 
 
 Shortly after Hale's death a ballad 
 was written which was very popular 
 during the remaining years of the war. 
 It was altered slightly and again be- 
 came popular during the second war with 
 Great Britain in 1812. It was evidently 
 written by one who was not well in- 
 formed as to all the details concerning 
 Hale's mission, capture and execution: 
 
 The breezes went steadily through the 
 tall pines, 
 A-saying "Oh, hush!" a-saying **0h, 
 hush!" 
 As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse, 
 For Hale's in the bush, for Hale's in 
 the bush. 
 **Keep still!" said the thrush, as she 
 nestled her young 
 In a nest by the road, in a nest by the 
 road. 
 
98 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 **For the tyrants are near, and with them 
 appear 
 What bodes ns no good, what bodes 
 us no good." 
 
 The brave captain heard it, and thought 
 of his home, 
 In a cot by the brook, in a cot by the 
 brook. 
 With mother and sister, and memories 
 dear, 
 He so gayly forsook, he so gayly for- 
 sook. 
 
 Cooling shades of the night were coming 
 apace. 
 The tattoo had beat, the tattoo had 
 beat. 
 The noble one sprang from his dark hid- 
 ing-place, 
 To make his retreat, to make his re- 
 treat. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 99 
 
 He wearily trod on the dry rustling 
 leaves, 
 As he passed through the wood, as he 
 passed through the wood, 
 And silently gained his rude launch on 
 the shore. 
 As she played with the flood, as she 
 played with the flood. 
 
 The guards of the camp, on that dark, 
 dreary night. 
 Had a murderous will, had a murder- 
 ous will. 
 They took him, and bore him afar from 
 the shore, 
 To a hut on the hill, to a hut on the 
 hill. 
 
 No mother was there, nor a friend who 
 could cheer. 
 In that little stone cell, in that little 
 stone cell. 
 
100 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 But he trusted in love from his Father 
 above. 
 In his heart all was well, in his heart 
 all was well. 
 
 An ominous owl, with his solemn bass 
 voice, 
 Sat moaning hard by, sat moaning 
 hard by : 
 "'The tyrant's proud minions must 
 gladly rejoice, 
 For he must soon die, for he must 
 soon die." 
 
 The brave fellow faced them, no thing 
 he restrained, 
 The cruel gen'ral, the cruel gen'ral: 
 His errand from camp, of the ends to be 
 gained, 
 And said that was all, and said that 
 was all. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY 101 
 
 They took him, and bound him, and 
 bore him away, 
 Down the hill's grassy side, down the 
 hill's grassy side. 
 'Twas there the base hirelings in royal 
 array 
 His cause did deride, his cause did 
 deride. 
 
 Five minutes were given, short minutes, 
 
 no more, 
 
 For him to repent, for him to repent. 
 
 He prayed for his mother, he asked not 
 
 another. 
 
 To heaven he went, to heaven he went. 
 
 The faith of a martyr the tragedy 
 
 showed. 
 As he trod the last stage, as he trod the 
 
 last stage. 
 And Britons will shudder at gallai t 
 
 Hale's blood. 
 As his words do presage, as his 
 
 words do presage. 
 
102 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's 
 gloomy foe, 
 Go frighten the slave, go frighten the 
 slave ; 
 Tell tyrants to you their allegiance they 
 owe. 
 No fears for the brave, no fears for the 
 brave ! 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 103 
 
 CHAPTEK VII. 
 
 "Ye come with hearts that oft have glowed 
 
 At his soul-stirring tale, 
 To wreath the deathless evergreen 
 
 Around the name of HALE." 
 
 The career of Nathan Hale has been 
 compared with that of John Andre, a 
 major in the British army. Both were 
 young, both were spies and both were 
 publicly executed for an offense not 
 sanctioned by civilized nations. In char- 
 acter, and the spirit in which they served 
 their respective countries, they differed 
 widely; Hale was a patriot of the high- 
 est type, while Andre was an adventurer 
 in the service of a tyrannical king. 
 
 The occupation of a spy is honorable 
 only when the service is performed un- 
 
104 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 selfishly for one's country— without hope 
 or expectation of personal reward of any 
 kind; this was the case with Nathan 
 Hale, whose last words on the scaffold 
 were: **lf I had ten thousand lives I 
 would lay them down, one at a time, in de- 
 fense of my injured, bleeding country." 
 The occupation of a spy, when the serv- 
 ice is rendered with this spirit, is just as 
 honorable as was the act of Washington 
 when he left his camp fires burning at the 
 battle of Trenton ,** to ^em^?e the enemy . " 
 
 Contrast the last words of Major 
 Andre, who said: **I request you, gentle- 
 men, that you will bear me witness to the 
 world, that I die like a brave man." He 
 avowedly admitted that in the enterprise 
 that resulted in his capture and execu- 
 tion that he "sought military glory, the 
 applause of his king and perhaps a brig- 
 adiership should success crown his 
 efforts as a spy." 
 
 Howe had decreed that Hale should 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 105 
 
 *'diG like a dog" and his instructions 
 were faithfully followed; for during the 
 twenty-two hours of his imprisonment 
 he was not given a particle of food and 
 but two cups of water, which doubtless, 
 Cunningham would have poisoned had he 
 not believed that the halter was the 
 surer and more humiliating method, and 
 that in the present instance he was act- 
 ing under instructions from Lord Howe. 
 Andre, on the other hand, was shown 
 every kindness, was provided with 
 counsel, given every opportunity to prove 
 his innocence, and was fed from Wash- 
 ington's private table. Dr. Depew has 
 given us a character-portrait of both 
 Hale and Andre and his estimate of 
 each. There is no doubt that Dr. Depew 
 has expressed the sentiment of his coun- 
 trymen as regards the character of these 
 martyrs of the American Revolution, and 
 this comparison of the two men is 
 given in the final chapter of this book. 
 
106 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Although four generations have come 
 and gone since the life drama of Nathan 
 Hale was enacted, it is gratifying to 
 know that men are awakening to a full 
 sense of the importance of the mission of 
 that young patriot and martyr. Public 
 sentiment has been aroused and today 
 the name of Hale stands forth as the 
 bright and shining light during the dark 
 days of the nation's struggle for in- 
 dependence. No marble shaft nor 
 modest stone marks the resting-place of 
 the martyr, and for more than half a 
 century after his death no effort was 
 made to perpetuate his memory, in 
 bronze or granite. Even the spot is un- 
 known where sleeps this hero and martyr 
 of the Eevolution. 
 
 In destroying the life of the young 
 patriot, the British sought to bury for- 
 ever the name and deeds of Captain 
 Hale, but in this they were unsuccessful, 
 for on the 25th of November, 1837 — sixty- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 107 
 
 one years and two months after Hale's 
 death, twenty revolutionary soldiers, 
 hale and hearty in their fourscore years, 
 met at a banquet in Coventry, Connecti- 
 cut, and formed the *'Hale Monument 
 Association." Many efforts were made 
 to induce Congress to make a suitable 
 appropriation for so worthy a cause, but 
 all efforts failed, notwithstanding atten- 
 tion had been called to the honor Eng- 
 land had shown Andre, by erecting a 
 grand mausoleum over his remains in 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
 **The Hale Monument Association" de- 
 termined that their initial effort should 
 not be in vain. For the purpose of 
 securing funds, a series of festivals was 
 determined upon, in the nature of church 
 fairs, tea parties, public entertainments, 
 private readings, and at all times * 'private 
 contributions were gladly accepted." In 
 these and in many other ways the people 
 of Connecticut almost unconsciously 
 
108 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 aided in raising a goodly sum. It was a 
 strange way to raise money for a monu- 
 ment, but desperate and heroic measures 
 are sometimes necessary when other 
 and more appropriate means are want- 
 ing. At one of these fairs held in the 
 Congregational Church at New Haven, 
 December 10, 1839, a poem was ad- 
 dressed to *'The Daughters of Freedom" 
 and printed on white satin, which sold 
 readily at fifty cents apiece. It con- 
 tained the following verses : 
 
 ** Ye come with hearts that oft have glowed 
 At his soul- stirring tale. 
 To wreath the deathless evergreen 
 Around the name of HALE, 
 
 "Here his memorial stone shall rise 
 In freedom's hallowed shade, 
 Prouder than Andre's trophied tomb, 
 'Mid mightiest monarchs laid." 
 
 In 1845 the State of Connecticut ap- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY, 109 
 
 propriated twelve hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars, and this, together with the twenty- 
 five hundred dollars contributed by the 
 patriotic citizens of Coventry and vicin- 
 ity and the sum raised by entertain- 
 ments, gave the '*Hale Monument Asso- 
 ciation" three thousand seven hundred 
 and fifty dollars with which to erect a 
 suitable monument which should be *'a 
 substantial testimony to Hale's mem- 
 ory." Henry Austin of New Haven de- 
 signed the monument, which was con- 
 structsd under the supervision of Solo- 
 mon Willard, the architect of the Bunker 
 Hill Monument. The Hale memorial at 
 Coventry was unveiled in the summer of 
 1846. It stands upon a pleasant eleva- 
 tion near the old Congregational Church 
 where Hale was baptized more than a 
 half-century before. The beautiful 
 Waugumbaug Lake, where Hale was 
 wont to skate and fish when a boy, 
 glistens in the distance. This column of 
 
110 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Quincy granite is forty-five feet high and 
 fourteen and a half feet square at its 
 base. Each side of the pedestal bears an 
 inscription. On the north side facing 
 Lake Waugumbaug is chiseled ; 
 
 "Captain Nathan Hale.' 
 On the west side: 
 
 "Born at Conventry, June 6, 1755." 
 
 On the east side: 
 
 "Died at New York, September 33, 1776." 
 
 On the south side: 
 
 "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my coun- 
 try." 
 
 This was the first monument erected 
 to the memory of Nathan Hale, though 
 it must not be forgotten that, during the 
 second war with Great Britain in 1812, a 
 little fort that was erected during the 
 Revolution at the entrance to New Haven 
 harbor was named '*Fort Hale" in honor 
 of the first martyr of the Revolution. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. Ill 
 
 In June, 1887, a magnificent life-size 
 bronze statue of Hale was placed in the 
 rotanda of the State Capitol at Hartford, 
 Connecticut, at the expense of the State. 
 This statue was the work of Karl Ger- 
 hardt, and the presentation address was 
 delivered by Charles Dudley Warner, 
 with response and address of acceptance 
 by Governor Phineas Lounsbury. 
 
 There seemed to be great activity 
 among the descendants of the Kevolu- 
 tionary patriots at about this time to 
 perpetuate the memory of the brave 
 young martyr. Poems and brief sketches 
 of the services he rendered Washington 
 began to make their appearance, and on 
 the 25th of November, 1893, just fifty- 
 six years after the forming of the **Hale 
 Monument Association" at Coventry, 
 and one hundred and ten years after the 
 evacuation of New York by the British, 
 a magnificent bronze statue of heroic 
 size was unveiled at the City Hall Park, 
 
112 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 New York City, under the auspices of 
 **The Sons of the Kevolution.'' Ten 
 thousand people were present at the un- 
 veiling of the statue which was executed 
 by the sculptor, MacMonnies. A civil 
 and military parade preceded the exer- 
 cises. Many of the public buildings in 
 New York and Brooklyn were draped in 
 bunting; the cities put on their gala day 
 attire, and amid the booming of cannon 
 and songs that stirred the vast multi- 
 tude, a monument befitting the name 
 and deeds of the young martyr was un- 
 veiled in the presence of many thousands, 
 in the vicinity where he performed his 
 daring mission and paid the penalty of 
 his misfortune. 
 
 Although few biographies of Captain 
 Hale have appeared, yet his life has been 
 rendered familiar to millions by numer- 
 ous poetic effusions which have appeared 
 at intervals during the passing cen- 
 tury. The chief purpose of the author 
 
NATHAN HALE MONUMENT, SOUTH COVENTRY, CONN, 
 
 Chiseled upon the monument are the following 
 inscriptions : — 
 
 Captain Nathan Hale, 
 
 1776. 
 
 Born at Coventry, 
 
 June 6, 1755. 
 
 Died at New York, 
 
 Sept. 22, 1776. 
 
 I only regret that I have but one life to lose for 
 my country." 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 113 
 
 has been to gather each scrap of tribute 
 to the memory of the brave youth, that 
 future generations may know the spirit 
 of the men who defied British power and 
 arrogance at a time when her supremacy 
 was unquestioned on both hemispheres. 
 A short time after Hale's death a per- 
 sonal friend of the martyr wrote a poem, 
 too lengthy to be reproduced here, in 
 which he described the personal appear- 
 ance of Nathan Hale and his motives in 
 becoming a spy. The name of the au- 
 thor was not affixed to the original pro- 
 duction, and consequently the author- 
 ship of the following poetic tribute must 
 forever remain unknown: 
 
 Removed from envy, malice, pride and 
 
 strife, 
 He walked through goodness as he 
 
 walked through life ; 
 A kinder brother Nature never knew, 
 A child more duteous or a friend more 
 
 true. 
 
114 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Hate of oppression's arbitrary plan, 
 The love of freedom and the rights of 
 
 man; 
 A strong desire to save from slavery's 
 
 chain 
 The future millions of the western main. 
 
 Not Socrates nor noble Russell died, 
 Or gentle Sidney, Britain's boast and 
 
 pride. 
 Or gen'rous Moore, approached life's 
 
 final goal 
 With more composed, more firm and 
 
 stable soul. 
 
 Dr. Timothy Dwight, who was one of 
 Hale's tutors during the two years he 
 spent at Yale College, said at his gradu- 
 ation: **Yale has never graduated a 
 more promising class." Then turning 
 to Hale, he added, '* And to you, Mr. Hale, 
 the youngest who ever went out from 
 these classic halls, I predict a glorious 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 115 
 
 future and a subline mission in life." 
 Though his future was brief it was 
 indeed glorious. Could a prophecy have 
 been more accurately foretold? 
 
 In one of the catalogues of Yale Col- 
 lege, issued during the presidency of that 
 great and good man, Dr. Dwight, there 
 appeared a brief tribute to Nathan Hale 
 over the signature of one of Yale's most 
 illustrious presidents. It is brief and 
 runs: 
 
 Thus while fond Virtue wished in vain to 
 
 save, 
 HALE, bright and generous, found a 
 
 hapless grave; 
 With genius' living flame his bosom 
 
 glowed, 
 And Science lured him to her sweet 
 
 abode. 
 In Worth's fair path his feet adventured 
 
 far. 
 The pride of peace, the rising hope of 
 
 war; 
 
116 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 In duty firm, in danger calm and even, 
 
 To friends unchanging and sincere to 
 Heaven. 
 
 How short his course, the prize how early- 
 won! 
 
 While weeping Friendship mourns her 
 favorite son. 
 
 Mr. John S. Babcock, for many years 
 a resident of Coventry, and a poet having 
 more than a local reputation, wrote a 
 touching tribute to Hale's memory, 
 which appeared first in the papers of 
 his native city. Mr. Babcock wrote in 
 the strain of Charles Wolfe's *'The 
 Burial of Sir John Moore." The 
 rhythmic meter of that famous poem has 
 been faithfully reproduced in these two 
 stanzas: 
 
 He fell in the spring of his early prime. 
 With his fair hopes all around him ; 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 117 
 
 He died for his birth-land— a glorious 
 crime. 
 Ere the palm of his fame had crowned 
 him. 
 
 He fell in her darkness, he lived not to 
 see 
 The morn of her risen glory ; 
 But the name of the brave, in the heart 
 of the free, 
 Shall be twined in her deathless story. 
 
 Timothy D wight was an intimate friend 
 of Hale and the year after the martyr's 
 death he entered the Continental army 
 as chaplain of the regiment to which 
 Hale belonged. The following poem was 
 written in 1777 and inscribed to Nathan 
 Hale. It was first published in *'Ket- 
 tell's Specimens," in 1829: 
 
 To Nathan Hale: 
 
118 NATHAN HALE 
 
 COLUMBIA. 
 
 BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT. 
 
 Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, 
 The queen of the world, and child of the 
 
 skies; 
 Thy genius commands thee, with rapture 
 
 behold, 
 While ages on ages thy splendor unfold ; 
 Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of 
 
 time, 
 Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy 
 
 clime; 
 Let the crimes of the East ne*er encrim- 
 
 son thy name, 
 Be freedom and silence and virtue thy 
 
 fame. 
 
 To conquest and slaughter let Europe 
 
 aspire ; 
 Whelm nations in blood and wrap cities 
 
 in fire; 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 119 
 
 Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall 
 defend 
 
 And triumph pursue them, and glory- 
 attend, 
 
 A world in thy realm : for a world be 
 thy laws. 
 
 Enlarged as thine empire and just as thy 
 cause; 
 
 On freedom's broad basis, that empire 
 shall rise, 
 
 Extend with the main, and dissolve with 
 the skies. 
 
 Fair science her gates to thy sons shall 
 nbar. 
 
 And the East see the morn hide the 
 beams of her star. 
 
 New bards and new sages, unrivalled 
 shall soar 
 
 To fame unextinguished, when time is 
 no more; 
 
 To thee, the last refuge of virtue de- 
 signed, 
 
120 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Shall fly from all nations the best of 
 
 mankind ; 
 Here, grateful to heaven, with transport 
 
 shall bring. 
 Their incense, more fragrant than odors 
 
 of Spring. 
 
 Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory 
 ascend, 
 
 And genius and beauty in harmony 
 blend ; 
 
 The graces of form shall awake pure de- 
 sire, 
 
 And the charms of the soul ever cherish 
 the fire ; 
 
 Their sweetness unmingled, their man- 
 ners refined. 
 
 And virtue's bright image, instamped on 
 the mind, 
 
 With peace and soft rapture shall teach 
 life to glow. 
 
 And light up a smile in the aspect of woe. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 1^1 
 
 Thy fleets to all regions, thy power shall 
 
 display, 
 The nations admire and the oceans obey; 
 Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold, 
 And the East and the South yield their 
 
 spices and gold. 
 As the day-spring unbounded, thy 
 
 splendor shall flow. 
 And earth's little kingdoms before thee 
 
 shall bow ; 
 While the ensigns of union, in triumph 
 
 unfurled, 
 Hush the tumult of war and give peace 
 
 to the world. 
 
 Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars 
 o'erspread. 
 
 From war's dread confusion I pensively 
 strayed. 
 
 The gloom from the face of fair heaven 
 retired ; 
 
 The winds ceased to murmur; the thun- 
 ders expired ; 
 
122 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Perfumes of Eden flowed sweetly along, 
 And a voice as of angels, enchantingiy 
 
 sung: 
 Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise. 
 The queen of the world, and the child of 
 
 the skies. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 123 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION — EULOGIUMS. 
 
 Andre's story is the one overmaster- 
 ing romance of the Revolution, Ameri- 
 can and English literature is full of elo- 
 quence and poetry in tribute to his 
 memory and sympathy for his fate. 
 After the lapse of a hundred years there 
 is no abatement of absorbing interest. 
 What had this young man done to merit 
 immortality? The mission, whose tragic 
 issue lifted him out of the oblivion of 
 other minor British officers, in its incep- 
 tion was free from peril or daring, and 
 its objects and purposes were utterly in- 
 famous. Had he succeeded by the dese- 
 cration of the honorable uses of passes 
 and flags of truce, his name would have 
 
124 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 been held in everlasting execration. In 
 his failure, the infant Republic escaped 
 the dagger with which he was feeling for 
 its heart, and the crime was drowned in 
 tears for his untimely end. His youth 
 and beauty, his skill with pen and pencil, 
 the brightness of his life, the calm cour- 
 age in the gloom of his death, his early 
 love and disappointment, surrounded 
 him with a halo of poetry and pity which 
 secured for him what he most sought 
 and could never have won in battle and 
 sieges — a fame and recognition which 
 have outlived that of all the generals 
 under whom he served. 
 
 Are kings only grateful, and do re- 
 publics forget? Is fame a travesty, and 
 the judgment of mankind a farce? 
 America had a parallel case in Captain 
 Nathan Hale. Of the same age as 
 Andre, he graduated at Yale College 
 with high honors, enlisted in the patriot 
 cause at the beginning of the contest, 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 125 
 
 and secured the love and confidence of 
 all about him. When none else would 
 go upon a most important and perilous 
 mission he volunteered, and was cap- 
 tured by the British. While Andre re- 
 ceived every kindness, courtesy and at- 
 tention, and was fed from Washington's 
 table. Hale was thrust into a noisome 
 dungeon in the sugar bouse. While 
 Andre was tried by a board of ofiicers 
 and had ample time and every facility 
 for defense, Hale was summarily ordered 
 to execution the next morning. While 
 Andre's last wishes and behests were 
 sacredly followed, the infamous Cunning- 
 ham tore from Hale his cherished Bible 
 and destroyed before his eyes his last 
 letters to his mother and sisters, and 
 asked him what he had to say. *'A11 I 
 have to say," was his reply, **is, I regret 
 I have but one life to lose for my coun- 
 try." His death was concealed for 
 months because Cunningham said he did 
 
126 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 not want the rebels to know they had a 
 man who could die so bravely. And yet 
 while Andre rests in that grandest of 
 mausoleums, where the proudest of 
 nations garners the remains and perpetu- 
 ates the memories of its most eminent 
 and honored children, the name and 
 deeds of Nathan Hale have passed into 
 oblivion. 
 
 This tribute from one of America's 
 foremost orators, Chauncey M. Depew, is 
 striking in its brevity and well-chosen 
 words. The address was delivered by 
 Dr. Depew nearly twenty years ago, and 
 like that of Mr. Eaymond and the 
 poetic tribute of Isaac Hinton Brown, 
 had much to do with the revival of in- 
 terest in the name and deeds of the 
 young martyr, and made the unveiling 
 of two monuments to his memory a 
 nation's rejoicing. 
 
 At an early stage of the Kevolution, 
 Nathan Hale, captain in the American 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 127 
 
 army, which he had entered, abandoning 
 brilliant prospects of professional dis- 
 tinction for the sole purpose of defend- 
 ing the liberties of his country — gifted, 
 educated, ambitious — the equal of Andre 
 in talent, in worth, in amiable manners, 
 and in every manly quality, and his 
 superior in that final test of character— 
 the motives by which his acts were 
 prompted and his life was guided — laid 
 aside every consideration personal to 
 himself and entered upon a service of 
 infinite hazard to life and honor, because 
 Washington deemed it important to the 
 sacred cause to which both had been 
 sacredly set apart. Like Andre, he was 
 found in the hostile camp; like him, 
 though without trial, he was adjudged 
 as a spy; and, like him, he was con- 
 demned to death. 
 
 And here the likeness ends. No con- 
 soling word, no pitying or respectful 
 look, cheered the dark hours of his 
 
128 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 doom. He was met with insult at every 
 turn. The sacred consolations of the 
 minister of God were denied him ; the 
 Bible was taken from him ; with an ex- 
 cess of barbarity hard to be paralleled in 
 civilized war, his dying letters of fare- 
 well to his mother and sisters were de- 
 stroyed in his presence; and uncheered 
 by sympathy, mocked by brutal power, 
 and attended only by that sense of duty, 
 incorruptible, undefiled, which had ruled 
 his life — finding a fit farewell in the 
 serene and sublime regret that he had 
 but one life to lose for his country — he 
 went forth to meet the great darkness of 
 an ignominious death. 
 
 The loving hearts of his early com- 
 panions have erected a neat monument 
 to his memory in his native town; but, 
 beyond that little circle, where stands 
 his name recorded? While the majesty 
 of England, in the person of her sover- 
 eign, sent an embassy across the sea to 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 129 
 
 solicit the remains of Andre at the hands 
 of his foes, that they might be enshrined 
 in that sepulcher where she garners the 
 relics of her mighty and renowned sons— 
 **Splendid in their ashes, pompous in the 
 grave," the children of Washington have 
 left the body of Nathan Hale to sleep in 
 its unknown tomb, though it be on his 
 native soil, unhonored by any outward 
 observance, unmarked by any memorial 
 stone. Monody, eulogy, monument of 
 marble or of brass and of letters more en- 
 during than all, have in his own land and 
 in oars given the name and fate of Andre 
 to the sorrowing remembrance of all 
 time to come. American genius has 
 celebrated his praises, has sung his vir- 
 tues, and exalted to heroic heights his 
 prayer, manly, but personal to himself, 
 for choice in the manner of death — his 
 dying challenge to all men to witness the 
 courage with which he met his fate. 
 But where, save on the cold page of his- 
 
130 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 tory, stands the record of Captain Nathan 
 Hale? Where is the hymn that speaks 
 to immortality, and tells of the added 
 brightness and enhanced glory when his 
 soul joined its noble host? And where 
 sleeps the American of Americans that 
 their hearts are not stirred to solemn 
 means of rapture at the thought of the 
 sublime love of country which buoyed 
 him not alone above the fear of death, but 
 far beyond all thought of himself, of his 
 fate and his fame, or of anything less 
 than his country — and which shaped his 
 dying breath into the sacred sentence 
 which trembled at the last upon his 
 quivering lip? 
 
 These eloquent words had a deeper 
 significance when they were uttered by 
 Mr. Raymond more than half a century 
 ago than they have today, for the 
 patriotic spirit that runs high in the 
 breast of every American has arisen to 
 the occasion and necessity of recogniz- 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 131 
 
 ing the services Nathan Hale rendered 
 the *' Father of His Country/' 
 
 It is a just reproach to a nation of 
 nearly sixty million freemen, rich and 
 powerful beyond any other people on 
 the globe, that the memory of Nathan 
 Hale, their self-sacrificing benefactor in 
 purpose, and a true and noble martyr in 
 the cause of the liberty they enjoy, has 
 been, until lately, absolutely neglected 
 by them; that no monody, eulogy, mon- 
 ument of marble or of brass, dedicated to 
 him by the public voice, appears any- 
 where in our broad land. Let the con- 
 science of our people, inspired by grati- 
 tude and patriotism, be fairly awakened 
 to the propriety of the undertaking, and 
 the funds will speedily be forthcoming 
 sufficient to erect a magnificent monu- 
 ment in memory of Nathan Hale in the 
 city where he died for his country. I 
 recommended, as a portion of the in- 
 scription upon the monument, the sub- 
 
132 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 joined epitaph, written fully thirty years 
 ago by George Gibbs, the ripe scholar 
 and antiquary, who was at one time the 
 librarian of the New York Historical 
 Society : 
 
 Stranger, Beneath this Stone 
 
 Lies the Dust of 
 
 a Spy 
 
 Who Perished Upon the Gibbet; 
 
 Yet 
 The Storied Marbles of the Great 
 
 Tfie Shrines of Heroes, 
 
 Entombed not one more Worthy of 
 
 Honor 
 
 Than him who here 
 
 Sleeps his last sleep. 
 
 Nations 
 
 Bow with Reverence before the Dust 
 
 Of him who dies 
 
 A glorious death. 
 
 Urged on by the Sound of the 
 
 Trumpet 
 
 And the shouts of 
 
 Admiring thousands. 
 
 But what Reverence, what honor ^ 
 
 Is not due to one 
 
 Who for his country ericountered 
 
 Even an infamous death, 
 
 Soothed by no sympathy, 
 
 Animated by no praise! 
 
 —Benson J. Lossing. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 133 
 
 Washington Irving, in his **Life of 
 George Washington," recites an interest- 
 ing story of the capture of Andre by 
 Major Tallmadge near Tappan, where 
 Tallmadge informs the British spy, when 
 questioned as to his probable fate, that it 
 will be similar to that of the American 
 spy. Captain Nathan Hale— seven years 
 before. 
 
 After disembarking at King's Ferry 
 near Stony Point, they set off for Tappan 
 under escort of a body of horse. As 
 they approached the Clove, a deep defile 
 in the rear of the Highlands, Andre, 
 who rode beside Tallmadge, became so- 
 licitous to know the opinion of the lat- 
 ter as to what would be the result of his 
 capture, and in what light he would be 
 regarded by General Washington and by 
 a military tribunal, should one be 
 ordered. Tallmadge evaded the ques- 
 tion as long as possible, but being urged 
 to a full and explicit reply, gave it, he 
 Bays, in the following words; 
 
134 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 *'I had a much-loved classmate in Yale 
 College, by the name of Nathan Hale, 
 who entered the army in 1775. Imme- 
 diately after the battle of Long Island, 
 General Washington wanted information 
 respecting the strength, position and 
 probable movements of the enemy. 
 Captain Hale tendered his services, went 
 over to Brooklyn and was taken, just as 
 he was passing the outposts of the enemy 
 on his return ; said I with emphasis — do 
 you remember the sequel of the story? 
 *Yes,' said Andre. *He was hanged as a 
 spy. But you surely do not consider his 
 case and mine alike?* 'Yes, precisely 
 similar, and similar will be your fate.' " 
 
 Here Washington Irving recites the 
 brief story of Nathan Hale and his un- 
 successful mission. It is in brief what 
 this book aims to give in detail. The 
 story of Nathan Hale cannot be too 
 often told, for it is the best illustration 
 we have of the character of the men we 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 135 
 
 owe a debt that neither this nor all 
 future generations can hope to repay. 
 
 In comparing the mission of the two 
 men — Andre and Hale— the fate of each, 
 and the action England took with regard 
 to the remains and memory of Andre, 
 Henry Cabot Lodge says: 
 
 "Andre was a spy and briber, who 
 sought to ruin the American cause by 
 the treachery of an American general. 
 It was a dark and dangerous game, and 
 he knew that he staked his life on the 
 result. He failed, and paid the penalty. 
 Washington could not permit, he would 
 have been grossly and feebly culpable if 
 he had permitted such an attempt to 
 pass without extreme punishment. He 
 was generous and magnanimous, but he 
 was not a sentimentalist, and he punished 
 this miserable treason, so far as he 
 could reach it, as it deserved. It is true 
 that Andre was a man of talent, well- 
 bred and courageous, and of engaging 
 
136 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 manners. He deserved all the sympathy 
 and sorrow which he excited at the time, 
 but nothing more. He was not only 
 technically a spy, but he had sought his 
 ends by bribery, he had prostituted a 
 flag of truce, and he was to be richly 
 paid for his work. It was all hire and 
 salary. No doubt Andre was patriotic 
 and loyal. Many spies have been the 
 same, and have engaged in their danger- 
 ous exploits from the highest motives. 
 Nathan Hale, whom the British hanged 
 without compunction, was as well-born 
 and well-bred as Andre, and as patriotic 
 as man could be, and moreover he was a 
 spy and nothing more. Andre was a 
 trafficker in bribes and treachery, and 
 however we may pity his fate, his name 
 has no proper place in the great temple 
 at Westminster, where all English- 
 speaking people bow with reverence, 
 and only a most perverted sentimentality 
 could conceive that it was fitting to erect 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 137 
 
 a monument to his memory in this 
 country." 
 
 NATHAN HALE, THE MAETYK SPY. 
 
 'Twas in the year that gave the nation 
 birth— 
 
 A time when men esteemed the common 
 good 
 
 As greater weal than private gain. A 
 battle fierce 
 
 And obstinate had laid a thousand pat- 
 riots low, 
 
 And filled the people's hearts with gloom. 
 
 Pursued like hunted deer, 
 The crippled army fled; and, yet, amid 
 Disaster and defeat, the nation's chosen 
 
 chief 
 Resolved his losses to retrieve. But not 
 With armies disciplined and trained by 
 
 years 
 Of martial service, could he, this Fabian 
 
 chief, 
 
138 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Now hope to check the hosts of Howe's 
 
 victorious legions — 
 These had he not. 
 
 In stratagem the shrewder general 
 Ofttimes o'ercomes his strong antag- 
 onist. 
 To Washingon a knowledge of the plans, 
 Position, strength of England's force 
 Must compensate for lack of numbers. 
 
 He casts about for one who'd take his 
 
 life 
 In hand. Lo ! he stands before the chief. 
 
 In face, 
 A boy — in form, a man on whom the eye 
 
 could rest 
 In search of God's perfected handiwork. 
 In culture, grace and speech, reflecting 
 
 all 
 A mother's love could lavish on an only 
 
 son. 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 139 
 
 The chieftain's keen discerning eye 
 Appraised the youth at his full worth, 
 
 and saw 
 In him those blending qualities that make 
 The hero and the sage. He fain would 
 
 save 
 For nobler deeds a man whose presence 
 
 marked 
 A spirit born to lead. 
 
 "Young man," he said with kindly air, 
 
 **Your country and commander feel 
 grateful that 
 
 Such talents are offered in this darkening 
 hour. 
 
 Have you in reachmg this resolve, con- 
 sidered well 
 
 Your fitness, courage, strength — the act, 
 the risk 
 
 You undertake? Have you, in that fine 
 balance, which 
 
 Detects an atom on either beam, weighed 
 well 
 
140 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Your chances of escape 'gainst certain 
 
 fate 
 Should capture follow in the British 
 
 camp?" 
 
 In tones of fitting modesty that well 
 Became his years, the patriot answered 
 
 thus: 
 **My country's honor, safety, life, it ever 
 
 was 
 My highest purpose to defend: that 
 
 country's foes 
 Exultant sweep through ruined land and 
 
 home 
 And field. A thousand stricken hearts 
 
 bewail 
 The loss of those who late our standards 
 
 bore 
 Appeals to us through weeping eyes 
 
 whose tears 
 We cannot brush away with words. The 
 
 ranks 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 141 
 
 Of those now cold in death are not re- 
 placed 
 By living men. The hour demands a 
 
 duty rare — 
 Perhaps a sacrifice. If God and training in 
 The schools have given me capacities 
 This duty to perform, the danger of the 
 
 enterprise 
 Should not deter me from the act 
 Whose issue makes our country free. In 
 
 times 
 Like these a nation's life sometimes upon 
 A single life depends. If mine be deemed 
 A fitting sacrifice, God grant a quick 
 Deliverance." 
 
 **Enough, go then, at once," the great 
 Commander said. *'May heaven's guard- 
 ian angel give 
 You safe return. Adieu." 
 
 Disguised with care, the hopeful cap- 
 tain crossed 
 
142 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 The Sound, and moved through British 
 camp 
 
 Without discovery by troops or refugees. 
 
 The enemy's full strength, in men, in 
 stores, 
 
 Munitions, guns— all military accoutre- 
 ments 
 
 Were noted with exact precision ; while 
 
 With graphic sketch, each trench and 
 parapet, 
 
 Casemated battery, magazine and every 
 point 
 
 Strategic, was drawn with artist's skill. 
 
 The task complete, the spy with heart 
 Elate, now sought an exit through the 
 
 lines. 
 Well might he feel a soldier's pride. An 
 
 hour hence 
 A waiting boat would bear him to his 
 
 friends. 
 His plans he'd lay before his honored 
 
 chief; 
 
 ^ 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 143 
 
 His single hand might turn the tiae of 
 
 war, 
 His country yet be free. 
 
 *'Halt!" a British musket leveled at 
 His head dimmed all the visions of his 
 
 soul. 
 A dash — an aimless shot; the spy bore 
 
 down 
 Upon the picket with a blow that else 
 Had freed him from his clutch, but for a 
 
 score 
 Of troopers stationed near. In vain he 
 
 struggles fierce 
 And desperate— in vain demands to be 
 
 released. 
 A Tory relative, for safety quartered in 
 The British camp, would prove his 
 
 truckling loyalty 
 With kinsman's blood. A word — a look — 
 A motion of the head, and he who'd 
 
 dared 
 
144 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 So much in freedom's name was free no 
 more. 
 
 Oh, Judas, self condemned! thou art 
 But the type of many a trait'rous friend. 
 Who ere and since thy time betrayed to 
 
 death 
 A noble heart, jjenceforth be doubly 
 
 doomed — 
 A base example to earth's weaker souls. 
 
 Before Lord Howe the captive youth 
 Was led. '*Base dog!" the haughty 
 
 general said, 
 '*Ignoble son of loyal sires! you've 
 
 played the spy 
 Quite well, I ween. The cunning skill 
 
 wherewith 
 You wrought these plans and charts 
 
 might well adorn 
 An honest man; but in a rebel's hands 
 
 they're vile 
 And mischievous. If aught may palliate 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 145 
 
 A traitor's act, attempted in his sover- 
 eign's camp, 
 
 I bid you speak ere I pronounce your 
 sentence." 
 
 With tone and mien that hushed 
 The buzzing noise of idle lackeys in the 
 
 hall, 
 The patriot thus replied: **You know 
 
 my name — 
 My rank— my treacherous kinsman made 
 My purpose plain. I've nothing further 
 
 of myself 
 To tell beyond the charge of traitor to 
 
 deny. 
 The brand of spy I do accept without re- 
 proach ; 
 But never since I've known the base in- 
 gratitude 
 Of king to loyal subjects of his realm 
 Has British rule been aught to me than 
 barbarous 
 
14:6 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Despotism which God and man abhor, 
 
 and none 
 But dastards fear to overthrow. 
 
 **For tyrant royalty your lordship 
 
 represents 
 I never breathed a loyal breath ; and he 
 Who calls me traitor seeks a pretext for 
 
 a crime 
 His trembling soul might well condemn. " 
 
 **ril hear no more such prating cant," 
 Said Howe, **your crime's enough to 
 
 hang a dozen men. 
 Before tomorrow's sun comes up you'll 
 
 swing 
 'Twixt earth and heaven, that your 
 
 countrymen 
 May know a British camp is dangerous 
 
 ground 
 For prowling spies. Away." 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 147 
 
 In loathsome cell, derived 
 Of holy sacrament, and e'en the word of 
 
 Him 
 Who cheered the thief upon the cross — 
 
 refused 
 The means wherewith he would indite 
 
 his last 
 Farewell to her who gave him life. 
 And to another whose young heart 
 The morrow's work would shade in 
 
 gloom, 
 He passed the night in charge of one 
 
 who Satan had 
 Commissioned hell's sharpest torments 
 
 to inflict. 
 
 Securely bound upon a cart, amid 
 A speechless crowd, he stands beneath a 
 
 strong 
 Projecting limb, to which a rope with 
 
 noose attached 
 
148 NATHAN HALE, 
 
 Portends a tragic scene. He casts his 
 
 eyes 
 Upon the surging multitude. Clearly 
 
 now 
 His tones ring out as victors shout in 
 
 triumph : 
 
 "Men, I do not die in vain, 
 
 My humble death upon this tree will 
 light anew 
 
 The Torch of Liberty. A hundred hands 
 to one 
 
 Before will strike for country, home and 
 God, 
 
 And fill our ranks with men of faith in 
 His 
 
 Eternal plan to make this people free. 
 
 A million prayers go up this day to free 
 
 The land from blighting curse of tyrant's 
 rule. 
 
 Oppression's wrongs have reached Je- 
 hovah's throne: 
 
THE MARTYR SPY. 149 
 
 The God of vengeance smites the foe ! 
 
 This land — 
 This glorious land— is free — is free! 
 My friends, farewell! In dying thus 
 I feel but one regret; it is the one poor 
 
 life 
 I have to give in Freedom's cause." 
 
 —Isaac Hinton Bkown. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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