Nathan Hale prepares to die: "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Photo by Erin Pettigrew on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).
Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale, born in Coventry Connecticut in 1755 and educated at Yale University, was designated the official state hero of Connecticut in 1985. Nathan Hale was a captain in the Continental army and volunteered to spy on the British during the American Revolution.
In 1776, at age 21, he was hanged without a trial by the British. The young patriot's immortal last words are etched at the base of the statue at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (and the replica on Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C.): "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
