One Life to Lose for My Country

American Minute from William J. Federer

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" were the last words of 21-year-old American patriot Nathan Hale, who was hanged by the British without a trial on SEPTEMBER 22, 1776.

A Yale graduate, he almost became a Christian minister, as his brother Enoch did, but instead became a teacher at Union Grammar School.

Nathan Hale fought in the siege of Boston, capturing a boat of provisions from under the gun of a British man-of-war. After the British left Boston for New York, General Washington was desperate for information. Nathan Hale volunteered to penetrate the British line at Long Island, but was captured upon return. General Howe ordered him to be hanged the next morning.

Hale wrote a letter to his mother and brother, but the British destroyed them, not wanting it known a man could die with such firmness. He asked for a Bible, but was refused. Nathan Hale was marched out and hanged from an apple-tree in Rutgers's orchard, near the present streets of East Broadway and Market in New York City.

Nathan Hale's nephew, well-known author Edward Everett Hale, wrote: "We are God's children, you and I, and we have our duties...Thank God I come from men who are not afraid in battle."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.