Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 25th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Nathan Hale

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Nathan Field
Next Entry
Nathanael
Resource Toolbox

NATHAN HALE (1756-1776), American hero of the War of Independence, was born at Coventry, Conn., and educated XII. 27 at Yale, then becoming a school teacher. He joined a Connecticut regiment after the breaking out of the war, and served in the siege of Boston, being commissioned a captain at the opening of 1776. When Heath's brigade departed for New York he went with them, and the tradition is that he was one of a small and daring band who captured an English provision sloop from under the very guns of a man-of-war. But on the 21st of September, having volunteered to enter the British lines to obtain information concerning the enemy, he was captured in his disguise of a Dutch school-teacher and on the 22nd was hanged. The penalty was in accordance with military law, but young Hale's act was a brave one, and he has always been glorified as a martyr. Tradition attributes to him the saying that he only regretted that he had but one life to lose for his country; and it is said that his request for a Bible and the services of a minister was refused by his captors. There is a fine statue of Hale by Macmonnies in New York.

See H. P. Johnston, Nathan Hale (1901).

Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Nathan Hale'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​bri/​n/nathan-hale.html. 1910.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile