Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale (September 23, 1743 – September 23, 1780) was an American Revolutionary War officer who fought in the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Fort Ticonderoga, Hale was caught at British borders in Manhattan, New York and died as a POW at the age of 37.

Family and early life Nathan Hale was born in Hampstead, New Hampshire, son of Moses and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Hale. He was a descendant of Thomas Hale of Newbury, Massachusetts, who arrived in 1637 from Watton-At-Stone, Hertfordshire, England as the latter part of the Winthrop Fleet and Great Migration. There is no known relation between Colonel Nathan Hale and Captain Nathan Hale, the American spy hanged by the British in 1776.

In his teens, Hale moved with his family to the area that would become Rindge, New Hampshire. He married Abigail Grout, daughter of Col. John and Joanna (Boynton) Grout of Lunenburg, Massachusetts. When the town of Rindge was organized in 1768, Hale was chosen the first constable of the town, and served as the moderator of the annual town meetings in 1773, 1774 and 1775

Service in the American Revolution In 1774, Hale became the captain of a militia company of minutemen. Once Hale was told of the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, he and his fifty men marched to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to join the Army of Observation.

On April 23, 1775, Hale was commissioned as a Major in the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. and the British had over 3,000. The colonies suffered 450 casualties and the British suffered 1,054 casualties in what has been described as a British Pyrrhic victory.

Hale was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment on November 8, 1776. Hale was later released on limited parole by the British, on the condition that he was not allowed to serve in the Army nor return to the enemy lines.