Nathan Hale was born on June 6, 1755 in Coventry, Connecticut.  Nathan was the 6th of 12 children. His father, Richard Hale was a farmer. Richard was successful enough to send two of his six sons to Yale College. While Nathan was at Yale, he enjoyed theater. After he graduated, at the age of eighteen, Nathan became a teacher at Union Grammar School in New London, CT. As a teacher, Nathan thought it was unfair that only the boys got to go to his school, so he taught twenty girls from five to seven in the morning before the boys started.

When news of the Battle of Lexington and Concord reached New London, a town meeting was called. At this meeting, Nathan Hale was one of the speakers. He said, “Let us march immediately and never lay down our arms until we obtain independence.” According to some sources this is one of the earliest records of the word “independence” being spoken publicly. Five of Nathan’s brothers fought the British at the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Nathan joined them on July 6th.
Hale rose quickly to the rank of captain and fought under the command of General George Washington. They were fighting in New York against the British General William Howe who was beginning a military buildup on Long Island. Washington was frustrated because he was not getting enough information. On September 6th he wrote, “We have not been able to obtain the least information as to the enemy’s plans.” He asked his officers to find a volunteer to gather information. Nathan Hale was the youngest captain and the only one who volunteered.

In the second week of September Hale went by boat to Long Island dressed as a Dutch schoolmaster. He told the boatman to return on September 20th to pick him up. For more than a week he gathered information about the British army’s positions. On September 20th, he returned to the harbor and waited for his boat. He saw a boat and he waved to it. Unfortunately, the boat was from a British frigate. Hale was seized and when they examined him they found his notes hidden in his shoes. They were written in Latin, but the British figured out that he was spying. They brought him on the frigate and took him to New York that same day. There was no trial and General Howe ordered him to be hanged the next morning. Hale was marched out by a guard and hanged from an apple tree near the present intersection of East Broadway and Market Streets. When asked to make his last speech, Hale said his most famous phrase. He said, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

Nathan died on September 22, 1776. He was only 22 years old when he was hanged in New York, for being a spy. In 1985 Nathan Hale officially became Connecticut’s state hero. A bronze statue of Hale is in the state capitol in Hartford and another one is outside the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford. There is also a statue of Hale in New York City. The Hale Homestead in Coventry is a museum. These are some of the things done to honor Hale’s patriotism.

References:
http://www.connecticutsar.org/patriots/hale_nathan.htm
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/revolut/hale_1
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2306