Nowadays, spying is considered dangerous, but it’s acknowledged worldwide as being not only necessary, but legitimate. Captured spies are sometimes killed, but they also might merely be jailed, or even exchanged.
Not so at the time of the American Revolution. In European (and, therefore, American) society, spies were used, but spying was considered dishonorable by many, and captured spies were generally hanged.
Why was it, then, that a young American named Nathan Hale decided to go on a spying mission not long after the Battle of Long Island? He was an officer — a captain in the army — and so was expected to live up to a higher standard of honor than the average soldier. (For example, on one occasion later in the war, the commander of a British fort asked the commander of the attacking American forces to come into the fort to negotiate. When the American commander was warned by some of his subordinates that it was a trick and that he would be taken prisoner, he replied that the British commander wouldn’t even think of such a thing, because it would “infallibly ruin him” — his reputation and his career.)
Hale was also an educated man — a graduate of Yale College. So why would he stoop to something as low-down as spying?
General Washington had told Colonel Thomas Knowlton that he needed somebody to gather intelligence about the enemy. Knowlton told his officers, one of whom was Captain Nathan Hale.
Hale said he would do it. One of his fellow officers, William Hull, who was a former classmate and good friend, told him that he would fail, because he wasn’t used to deceiving people — and even if he succeeded, the mission would be disgrace to him. But Hale responded that he had been in the army for over a year and hadn’t provided any real service to his country. Now his services were needed. He said he’d think about it and do what duty required.
This took place sometime in early September 1776. Hale went behind enemy lines in disguise. He was caught on Long Island on September 21 and taken to the British commander-in-chief, General Howe. He acknowledged who he was and what he had been doing, which may seem bizarre to us, but he was following a code of honor.
Not surprisingly, no mercy was shown. He was promptly hanged at 11:00 the next day. A British officer named Frederick MacKenzie wrote in his diary:
He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good Officer, to obey any orders given him by his Commander in Chief; and desired the Spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear.
The same day, another British officer came to the American camp with a flag of truce and told them that Hale had been captured and executed. Hale’s friend, William Hull, recalled that the officer “seemed touched” by it all, and told him how he had witnessed the hanging:
“On the morning of his execution, … my station was near the fatal spot, and I requested the Provost Marshal to permit the prisoner to sit in my marquee, while he was making the necessary preparations. Captain Hale entered: he was calm, and bore himself with gentle dignity, in the consciousness of rectitude and high intentions. He asked for writing materials, which I furnished him: he wrote two letters, one to his mother and one to a brother officer.” He was shortly after summoned to the gallows. But a few persons were around him, yet his characteristic dying words were remembered. He said, “I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country.”