HALE, NATHAN, Continental officer, hanged by the British in 1776 . Signature ("Nathan Hale"), probably clipped from a letter, with a partial line of text in his hand, n.p., n.d. 20 x 62 mm. (¾ x 2½ in.), tipped to another sheet, matted and framed. A RARE SIGNATURE OF THE NOTED AMERICAN SPY AND MARTYR. Hale (1755-1776), who graduated from Yale in 1773, joined the Connecticut Militia and then the Continental Army, serving at the Boston siege; ordered to New York, he became Captain of a company of rangers. When General Washington called for an officer to undertake an intelligence mission behind British lines, Hale stepped forward after the first appeal went unanswered. Posing as a schoolteacher, he traveled through New York to Long Island, collected information regarding British defenses, but was betrayed and captured on 21 September 1776. Without the formality of a trial, British General Howe ordered him hanged the next day. His statement at the gallows ended with the famous remark: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" (apparently inspired by lines from Joseph Addison's Cato ). His last letters were burned by the British. Very few letters of Hale are extant, and in any form his autograph is extremely rare.
HALE, NATHAN, Continental officer, hanged by the British in 1776 . Signature ("Nathan Hale"), probably clipped from a letter, with a partial line of text in his hand, n.p., n.d. 20 x 62 mm. (¾ x 2½ in.), tipped to another sheet, matted and framed. A RARE SIGNATURE OF THE NOTED AMERICAN SPY AND MARTYR. Hale (1755-1776), who graduated from Yale in 1773, joined the Connecticut Militia and then the Continental Army, serving at the Boston siege; ordered to New York, he became Captain of a company of rangers. When General Washington called for an officer to undertake an intelligence mission behind British lines, Hale stepped forward after the first appeal went unanswered. Posing as a schoolteacher, he traveled through New York to Long Island, collected information regarding British defenses, but was betrayed and captured on 21 September 1776. Without the formality of a trial, British General Howe ordered him hanged the next day. His statement at the gallows ended with the famous remark: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" (apparently inspired by lines from Joseph Addison's Cato ). His last letters were burned by the British. Very few letters of Hale are extant, and in any form his autograph is extremely rare.
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