“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

Nathan Hale (1755 to 1776)

He attended Yale University, where he graduated in 1773, and became a schoolteacher, first in East Haddam and then in New London.

He joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775, served in the siege of Boston, and was commissioned a captain (1776). He went to New York with William Heath’s brigade and is said to have participated in the capture of a provision sloop from under the guns of a British man-of-war.

Hale was captured on 21 September 1776 by the British while attempting to return to his regiment, having penetrated the British lines on Long Island to obtain information. He was hanged without trial the next day.