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Spying is dangerous business. Despite American revolutionary Nathan Hale only being a spy for a couple of weeks before being sent off to the eternal pushing of daisies by the British hangman, he remains a popular figure in U.S. history. Probably because of those badass last words.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: September 10, 1776--
It had been a couple of months since the white enslavers said all men are created equal so long as they’re men and also white. Hale was born in Connecticut in 1755, graduated Yale, and became a schoolteacher. But in 1775 there was a war and young men often consider war to be glorious, so he was all sign me up. Being educated he was made a lieutenant, and before long a captain.
Tall, strong, and handsome, he was popular with the ladies. Which I suppose beats dying before ever getting to rub naked stuff with someone. Still, better to live to fuck another day. But that wasn’t in the cards for poor Nate. Early in the war the Americans were getting their asses kicked, but by August 1776 Hale had still not seen any combat and he was all thirst for adventure and shit. So, when General George Washington said he needed a spy for a dangerous mission, Nathan Hale was the only one to step forward. The date was September 10, 1776. Nathan Hale had 12 days to live.
He was tasked with determining where the British would invade the Island of Manhattan. He disguised himself as a Dutch schoolteacher seeking employment and did successfully gather intelligence. On September 20 New York was set on fire, possibly by rebels, and the Brits were on high alert. The next day Hale was attempting to return to American-held territory when he was captured by the British. It’s alleged his cousin, a British loyalist, saw him and ratted him out, but that was never substantiated.
Attend my sweary book launch open bar cheese bun extravaganza on Sept 21.
Anyway, Hale had all sorts of incriminating documents on him, and he was ever so fucked. He admitted his name and rank, but the rules were the rules: You go behind enemy lines out of uniform, and you are executed for being a spy. Rumor has it he was very composed during his final moments on the gallows, saying, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
Considering who was hanging him, it’s ironic he adapted those final words from the work of a British playwright, Joseph Addison.
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