Nathan Hale Poster

This Statue stands in front of one of the oldest City Hall's in all of America.  The City Hall in New York City.  

It is of one of America's Revolutionary heros Nathaniel Hale. 

He was one of America's first spies who was caught by the British in the fall of 1776 and was hung in New York City on September 22, 1776.

He is a Hero of the state of Connecticut who made him their state hero on October 1, 1985. 

Nathaniel Hale was born in Coventry Connecticut and attended Yale; he later became a schoolteacher.  He was commissioned as a Captain the Continental Army in 1775.  At the request of George Washington for volunteers he became a spy sneaking information to the Continental Army via an underground spy network based in Connecticut and Long Island. (watch Washington's Spies on AMC for a great enterntainment and good history about this network)

In September of 1776 the at the age of 21 he was caught by the British and hung without a trial.  The words "My Only Regret is that I have but One Life to lose for My Country" were his last words. 

The statue in front of NYC city hall was erected in 1893, this image was downloaded from the NYC public library and was a postcard from 1910 and is under the public domain. 

Many accounts have his last words as "I Only Regret is that I have but One Life to Lose for my Country."  other accounts have his last words beginning with "My Only Regret is that I have but One Life to Lose for my Country."  

Semantically the pronoun usage is irrelevant to the message. 

A smaller scale version of this statue is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

Yale University also has a statue of Nathan Hale.

The only other statue of Nathan Hale that I know of that is in life sized is on the highly secretrave grounds of Langley Virginia at the headquarters of the CIA.

The Social Media person in charge of the posts from the CIA is Molly Hale and I read a great article on the CIA's website about the tradition of spies and foreign agents tossing a coin at the feat of the statue of Nathan Hale at the CIA for good luck and a safe journey home. That statue is a recreation of the one at Yale University and was erected in 1973.

Nathan Hale is the first of many famous Hale's in American History.  Sarah Hale of New Hampshire began a letter writing campaign to Abraham Lincoln that made Thanksgiving an official Holiday.  Edward Everette Hale was the grand nephew of Nathan Hale and he is a well known author and historian during the Civil War.  He wrote in support of the Union and was an abolitionist and the militant preacher from Kansas John Brown once asked Edward Everette Hale for funds.  Edward Everette Hale also helped the new state of California remember where the name of their state comes from by digging up the works of the Spanish author Montalvo and his book from the 1490's.  Edeward Everette Hale later went on to become the chaplain of the United States Senate and a member of the Acadamy of Sciences.  He is best known as the author of the book "A Man Without a Country." Which was as story he published in the Atlantic in 1863 in support of the Union.  He later published it as a book.

There is also the members of the band Halestorm who are a famous heavy metal band in the United States and the World.