in #ColonialHistory, #OnThisDay, US History 504 Words

#OnThisDay: Nathan Hale Hanged, 1776

I don’t know whether American students still learn about Nathan Hale. I’ve heard that students are now taught that U.S. History began when George Washington became President.

I hope that is an urban myth. If a child isn’t taught that there was an American Revolution, a Revolutionary War, and why those came about, it will not mean anything to them to know that George Washington was our first President.

In case you need a refresher about who Nathan Hale was, I’ll give a brief summary.

Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was born in Connecticut in 1755. He graduated from Yale University in 1773 and became a teacher. He joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and was commissioned as a captain the next year.

Hale went behind enemy lines on Long Island during the siege of New York. Deemed guilty of spying, he was captured on September 21, 1776. He was hanged by the British in Manhattan on September 22, 1776.

He was barely 21 years old! I did not realize he was that young until I was doing some research to write today’s blog post.

Things were not going well for the Americans, so leaders used Nathan Hale’s hanging as a rallying cry.

Hale has often been quoted as saying, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country,” but there is no proof that he uttered those words. British Captain Frederick Macenzie, who witnessed the hanging, wrote in his diary that Hale’s last words were, “it is the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander-in-chief.”

Hurricane Helene Update, 51.5 weeks after the disaster

As of Friday, 38 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, two state highways, and 31 state roads.

Interstate 40 is, of course, still just two lanes, 35 miles-per-hour.

If you are planning a trip to drive on the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway, be sure and check on the road’s status before you go: https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm. There are sections that are still closed. Some of them will be closed for another year. Hurricane Helene recovery project details can be found at https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/helene-recovery-projects-at-a-glance.htm.

Don’t hesitate to travel to western North Carolina. Just be aware that there are still spotty road closures. The area needs tourists to support all the small businesses struggling to recover from this September 26, 2024, natural disaster. Eat at a diner instead of a fast-food chain restaurant. Make sure the souvenir you buy was handmade by a local artisan and not mass-produced by a large corporation.

A Note in Closing

I’m pleased to announce the publication of I Need The Light! Companion Journal and Diary to go along with I Need The Light! 26 Weekly Devotionals to Help You Through Winter. Both books are available on Amazon.

We are living in strange times. Pay attention to what is happening. Ignore the attacks on free speech at your own peril.

Janet

16 thoughts on “#OnThisDay: Nathan Hale Hanged, 1776”

  1. I do remember Nathan Hale but never knew his age or what his recorded last year was. One of my complaints about how we learned American history was the lengthy time spent on the Age of Discovery and the colonial through Civil War Period. We crammed the 20th century into the last two or three weeks before summer vacation. I loved WWII and it seldom got a mention.

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  2. Congratulations on the publication of your journal. The recovery process after the hurricane is slow but I hope it will get better soon. Thanks for the history lesson.

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  3. I did not get to study anything after the Civil War until I went to college. Every cotton-picking year we finished the year with the Civil War. If not for my parents living through the Great Depression as young adults and occasionally making reference to how they struggled, I wouldn’t have known there was a Great Depression until I studied it at Appalachian.

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  5. I vaguely remember one day spent on the American West, and a day on the Industrial Revolution/Gilded Age, but not much else. My guess is that while the Civil War was very important–it may have carried more urgency in North Carolina than in Rhode Island (which is probably why we got some of the industrial revolution and Guilded Age (all those mansions in Newport.).

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  8. Thank you, Liz. I keep plugging away. Proofreading my collection of historical short stories now. Can’t help myself! About Nathan Hale… I had no idea he was that young until I was working on my blog post last week. He turned 21 in June and was hanged in September.

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  9. CONGRATULATIONS Janet. I know this generation knows nothing about Nathan Hale as violent as this act was. Such important moments in history need to continue to be shared. We can’t forget such things my friend. 😊🙏🏼🤗

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  12. Congratulations Janet!!! Going to school is so different now. My grandkids just get their phone out to “cheat” on their homework. Phones are allowed in the classroom, school tablets come home everyday. Thank you for a refresher about Nathan Hale! I am shocked all the roads aren’t open yet, what a devastating storm!

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  13. Thank you so much, Diane! I truly wonder what children are learning in school these days. There are teachers today who never learned how to write cursive! I know one who teaches third grade! It is appalling. I had no idea Nathan Hale was just 21 years old when he was hanged. I learn something every time I write one of my historical blog posts. Hurricane Helene… yes, it is shocking. I think they say it caused $60 billion in damage in North Carolina. There are still so many landslides to clear up before they can even start rebuilding those areas to support the roads and highways. I can’t comprehend how the engineers begin to figure out how to rebuild a side of a mountain and stabilize it to support a highway. I’m glad there are people who have those skills. I-40 probably never should have been built through the Pigeon River Gorge, but it was — so now they don’t have much choice but to rebuild the five miles of it that got wiped out in flood. Every time I’ve driven it, I hold my breath. I can’t relax until I’ve made it through that section. It has always been prone to rockslides. They say those mountains are constantly moving. There is steel “netting” covering the sides of the mountains beside the highway to catch rocks, but there’s only so much they can catch or stop. Once in a while a rockslide closes the lanes in one direction or the other for a few weeks and all traffic has to be switched to the opposite lanes, but that’s just in small stretches — maybe a few hundred feet. This time five miles were wiped out. I can’t get my head around what they’re having to do to rebuild it, and I don’t know that I ever want to drive it again. I’m encouraged that they’re saying all of the currently closed sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway will be reopened by the end of 2026. I was afraid I wouldn’t live to see it rebuilt. In fact, when I’ve seen some of the pictures, I wondered if all of it would ever be rebuilt.

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