Chapter IV: A Call to Arms

The place "allotted" to him was that of lieutenant in the third company of the 7th Connecticut regiment, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb. No doubt exists that Lieutenant Nathan Hale was the same Nathan Hale who had won distinction in all his college work, in his subsequent teaching, and in all the events thus far associated with his early manhood, with this difference; he was now lifted to a line of service that in his opinion seemed the highest possible for him to follow, and no one who studies his subsequent course can question that in this following he found the loftiest consecration thus far possible to him. Perhaps unconsciously he was to verify the poet's assertion,

"So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When Duty whispers low, _Thou must_,
The youth replies, _I can._"

With no trace of merely personal ambition, but with that splendid power of absorption in duty as in work, Nathan Hale followed in the steps of those devoted American patriots whose blood, so freely shed at Lexington, was calling upon their countrymen to shed theirs as freely, should duty demand it.

Dead almost one hundred and forty years, we still are thrilled by proofs of the splendid manhood henceforth to be so prominent in every remaining day of Hale's brief life. A few letters to friends, a fairly comprehensive diary for a few months, his camp-book, and the recollections of a few of the officers and of his body-servant, give a moderately complete picture of Nathan Hale for a few brief weeks, during which time he had been doing all in his power to perfect himself and the men under him in the duties of soldiers.

By the middle of September the Connecticut troops, having received orders from General Washington to proceed to the camp near Boston, the 7th Regiment, containing Lieutenant Hale's company, went to the spot appointed, remaining there during the winter, and leaving for New York, again by Washington's orders, in the spring. Of these intervening months, so momentous to the little army whose many members were impatient for the close of the war, Nathan Hale himself gives us vivid pictures; of the work he was trying to do; of the men he was meeting; of the religious life he was in no sense forgetting, and of his own deepening patriotism. Letters written to him show the attitude of friends at home, and their interest both in the affairs of the country and in him personally. The following letter from Gilbert Saltonstall, a young Harvard graduate and warm friend of Hale while in New London, shows how fully the men at home, as well as those in the army, entered into the anxieties of the times:

NEW LONDON, Octo. 9th, 1775.

DEAR SIR:

By yours of the 5th I see you're Stationd in the Mouth of Danger--I
look upon yr. Situation more Perilous than any other in the
Camp--Should have thought the new Recreuits would have been Posted
at some of the Outworks, & those that have been inured to Service
advanc'd to Defend the most exposed Places--But all Things are
concerted, and ordered with Wisdom no doubt--The affair of Dr.
Church[1] is truly amazing--from the acquaintance I have of his
publick Character I should as soon have suspected Mr. Hancock or
Adams as him.

[Footnote 1: Of this Dr. Church, John Fiske writes: "In October, 1775, the American camp was thrown into great consternation by the discovery that Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the most conspicuous of the Boston leaders, had engaged in a secret correspondence with the enemy. Dr. Church was thrown into jail, but as the evidence of treasonable intent was not absolutely complete, he was set free in the following spring, and allowed to visit the West Indies for his health. The ship in which he sailed was never heard from again."]

(Then follow accounts of an affair on Long Island Sound, and extracts from a paper two days old just brought from New York, describing army matters in the North.)

I have extracted all the material News--should have sent the Paper
but its the only one in Town and every one is Gaping for news.

Your sincere Friend
GILBERT SALTONSTALL.

Another, also from Saltonstall, reads in part as follows:

ESTEEMED FRIEND

Doctor Church is in close Custody in Norwich Gaol, the windows
boarded up, and he deny'd the use of Pen, Ink, and Paper, to have
no converse with any Person but in presence of the Gaoler, and then
to Converse in no Language but English. ... what a fall ...

Yr &c
GILBERT SALTONSTALL.

Novr. 27th 1775

A letter already referred to as showing Hale's interest in New London and its people, also his feeling as to camp life, is here given. "Betsey" was one of his pupils in his early-morning classes. We note the little touch of good-natured fun in the last paragraph.

CAMP WINTER HILL, Octr 19th 1775

DEAR BETSEY

I hope you will excuse my freedom in writing to you, as I cannot
have the pleasure of seeing and conversing with you. What is now a
letter would be a visit were I in New London but this being out of
my power, suffer me to make up the defect in the best manner I can.
I write not to give you any news or any pleasure in reading (though
I would heartily do it if in my power) but from the desire I have
of conversing with you in some form or other.

I once wanted to come here to see something extraordinary--my
curiosity is satisfied. I have now no more desire for seeing things
here, than for seeing what is in New London, no, nor half so much
neither. Not that I am discontented--so far from it, that in the
present situation of things I would not except a furlough were it
offered me. I would only observe that we often flatter ourselves
with great happiness could we see such and such things; but when we
actually come to the sight of them our solid satisfaction is really
no more than when we only had them in expectation.

All the news I had I wrote to John Hallam--if it be worth your
hearing he will be able to tell you when he delivers this. It will
therefore not (be) worth while for me to repeat.

I am a little at a loss how you carry at New London--Jared Starr I
hear is gone--The number of Gentlemen is now so few that I fear how
you will go through the winter but I hope for the best.

I remain with esteem
Yr Sincere Friend
& Hble Svt.
N. HALE

TO BETSEY CHRISTOPHERS
At New London

The next letter refers to the time when, on account of their personal privations, the Connecticut troops were thinking seriously of withdrawing from the struggle, and returning to their homes:

DEAR SIR NEW LONDON Decr-4th 1775

The behaviour of our Connecticut Troops makes me Heart-sick--that
they who have stood foremost in the praises and good Wishes of
their Countrymen, as having distinguished themselves for their Zeal
& Public Spirit, should now shamefully desert the Cause; and at a
critical moment too, is really unaccountable--amazing. Those that
do return will meet with real Contempt, with deserv'd Reproach. It
gives great satisfaction that the Officers universally agree to
tarry--that is the Report, is it true or not?--May that God who has
signally appear'd for us since the Commencement of our troubles,
interpose, that no fatal or bad consequence may attend a dastardly
Desertion of his Cause.

I want much to have a more minute Acct. of the situation of the
Camp than I have been able to obtain. I rely wholly on you for
information.

Your
G. SALTONSTALL.

To explain some of Saltonstal's references to the feelings of some of the Connecticut troops, we quote from Captain Hale's diary of October 23:

"10 o'clock went to Cambridge with Field commission officers to
General Putman to let him know the state of the Regiment and that
it was through ill usage upon the Score of Provisions that they
would not extend their term of service to the 1st of January 1776."

Other letters to Hale from New London friends, among them one from an officer absent on furlough, speak freely of the anxieties of those watching the progress of the reenlistments, and the home reception that would be given to any leaving the army.

Another letter from Saltonstall reads as follows:

NEW LONDON Decr. 18th 1775

DR. SIR....

I wholly agree with you in ye. agreables of a Camp Life, and
should have try'd it in some Capacity or other before now, could my
Father carry on his Business without me. I proposed going with
Dudley, who is appointed to Commn. a Twenty-Gun Ship in the
Continental Navy, but my Father is not willing, and I can't
persuade myself to leave him in the eve of Life against his
consent....

Yesterday week the Town was in the greatest confusion imaginable;
Women wringing their Hands along Street, Children crying, Carts
loaded 'till nothing more would stick on, posting out of Town,
empty ones driving in, one Person running this way, another that,
some dull, some vex'd, more pleased, some flinging up an
Intrenchment, some at the Fort preparing ye Guns for Action, Drums
beating, Fifes playing; in short as great a Hubbub as at the
confusion of Tongues; all of this occasioned by the appearance of a
Ship and two Sloops off the Harbour, Suppos'd to be part of
Wallace's Fleet,--When they were found to be Friends, Vessels from
New Port with Passengers ye consternation abated....

A postscript runs as follows:

The young girls, B. Coit, S. and P. Belden [Hale's pupils] have
frequently desired their Compliments to Master, but I've never
thought of mentioning it till now. You must write something in your
next by way of P.S. that I may shew it them.

Favored by copies of these letters by Saltonstall, one must regret all the more that so few of Hale's own letters have been discovered, ten being the limit. Within a comparatively short period, however, some sixty more records--mostly letters written to Hale--have come to light, preserved, as it is now seen, by the same "orderly care" that marked his interest in all the correspondence of his friends.

In them are expressed, in letter after letter, the affectionate interest and warm admiration of the writers. It is now said that Hale kept these letters with him down to the date of his tragic mission. We can easily imagine the glow of satisfaction that must have filled his brotherly soul in the few spare moments he could devote to these letters.

Brief extracts are made from his diary, fortunately preserved for evidence as to his work and growing interest in the duties he had entered upon. The diary was found in the camp-book brought to his family by Asher Wright, Hale's attendant in camp before he left New York.

In the diary, under date of November 19, 1775, this entry is made:

" ... Robert Latimer the Majrs Son went to Roxbury to day on his
way home. The Majr who went there to day and ... return'd this
eveng bt acts that the _Asia_ Man of War Station'd at N. York
was taken by a Schooner arm'd with Spear's &c.... This account not
creditted."

A month after the return from camp mentioned above, Robert Latimer wrote to Captain Hale, his former teacher, the following interesting and diverting letter:

DR SIR,

As I think myself under the greatest obligations to you for your
care and kindness to me, I should think myself very ungrateful if I
neglected any oppertunity of expressing my gratitude to you for the
same. And I rely on that goodness, I have so often experienc'd to
overlook the deficiencies in my Letter, which I am sensible will be
many as maturity of Judgment is wanting, and tho' I have been so
happy as to be favour'd with your instructions, you can't Sir,
expect a finish'd letter from one who has as yet practis'd but very
little this way, especially with persons of your nice discernment.

Sir, I have had the pleasure of hearing by the soldiers, which is
come home, that you are in health, tho' likely to be deserted by
all the men you carried down with you, which I am very sorry for,
as I think no man of any spirit would desert a cause in which, we
are all so deeply interested. I am sure was my Mammy willing I
think I should prefer being with you, to all the pleasures which
the company of my Relations Can afford me.

I am Sir with respect yr Sincere friend
& very H'ble St
ROB'T LATIMER

Decbr 20th 1775--

P. S. My Mammy and aunt Lamb presents Complimts. My Mammy would
have wrote, but being very busy, tho't my writing would be
sufficient--my respects to Capt Hull. Addressed to Capt. Hale.

Here is a second letter from the same ardent friend of Captain Hale. His admiration for his former teacher is evident in every line.

NEW LONDON, March 5th 1776

DEAR SIR,

as my letter meet with such kind reception from you, I still
continue writing & hope that the desire I have of improving, added
to the pleasure, I take in hearing often from so good a friend,
will sufficiently excuse me for writing so often--I Recd your kind
letter Sr pr the post & cant deny but your approbation, of my
writing, gives me the greatest pleasure, & should be afraid of its
raisg my pride; did I not consider that your intention in praising
my poor performance, must be with a design, of raising in me an
ambition, to endeavour to deserve your praise--& I hope that
instructions convey'd in such an agreeable manner, will not, be
thrown away upon me--You write Sr that you have got another Fifer,
& a very good one too, as I hear. Which I am very Glad to hear,
tho' I sincerely wish I was in his Place--

Have not any News.

So will Conclude--I am Sr
with Respect Yr friend & S't,

ROBERT LATIMER

P. S. My Mammy & Aunt
Present Compts &c--

CAPT. HALE.

Only one thought dims the pleasure with which we read these two letters,--the consciousness of the depth of distress that must have filled that loyal boy's heart to overflowing when he learned of the tragic death of his hero friend.

Two notable records from Captain Hale's diary are these:

November 6. It is of the utmost importance that an officer should
be anxious to know his duty, but of greater that he should
carefully perform what he does know. The present irregular state of
the army is owing to a capital neglect in both of these.

November 7. Studied ye best method of forming a Reg't for a review,
of arraying the Companies, also of marching round ye reviewing
Officer. A man ought never to lose a moment's time. If he put off a
thing from one minute to the next, his reluctance is but increased.

Later in November, when the men in his company were unwilling to reenlist, this notable entry was made, signed with his full name:

28, Tuesday. Promised the men if they would tarry another month,
they should have my wages for that time.

NATHAN HALE.

These brief quotations, proving as they do Hale's intense devotion to duty, and his practical efforts to hold his men to their duty, show how clearly he understood the tremendous responsibility resting upon the commander-in-chief as given in Washington's own words in letters to friends and to Congress, soon to be quoted; and that, known or unknown to Washington, there were men among his officers fully aware of the condition of the army, and as anxious to serve it as was their magnificent leader.

We here quote from Washington's letters; the first one was written to a friend:

I know the unhappy predicament in which I stand; I know that much
is expected of me; I know that without men, without arms, without
ammunition, without anything fit for the accommodation of a
soldier, little is to be done, and what is mortifying, I know that
I cannot stand justified to the world without exposing my own
weakness, and injuring the cause, by declaring my wants which I am
determined not to do farther than unavoidable necessity brings
every man acquainted with them. My situation is so irksome to me at
times, that if I did not consult the public good more than my own
tranquillity, I should long ere this have put everything on the
cast of a die. So far from my having an army of twenty thousand
men, well armed, I have been here with less than half that number,
including sick, furloughed, and on command; and those neither armed
nor clothed as they should be. In short, my situation has been
such, that I have been obliged to conceal it from my own officers.

The second letter was written to Congress:

To make men well acquainted with the duties of a soldier, requires
time. To bring them under proper discipline and subordination, not
only requires time, but is a work of great difficulty; and in this
army where there is so little distinction between officers and
soldiers, requires an uncommon degree of attention. To expect,
then, the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from
veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did, and perhaps never
will happen.

On the 23d of December, 1775, Hale began his first and only trip to Connecticut for the sake of securing additional enlistments. If on this one visit home he became engaged--as some have believed--to the woman he had so long loved, now a widow of about nineteen, Alice Adams Ripley, we may infer that love brightened his embassy even though patriotism inspired it. No record remains of the glorified hours he may have spent in Coventry. We have good reason to believe that, if he survived the war, he expected to marry the woman he had so faithfully loved. After a few brief days in his home, he left it, never to return, speeding on his way to serve his country's needs.

If this new zest entered his life at this time, we can easily imagine as he fared on, striving to arouse his countrymen to their duty as patriots, that the happiest hours of his life were urging him forward to the most perfect service he could render in the present, and to unlimited hopes and ambitions for the future he might well expect was awaiting him. Crowned by human love, and with unlimited opportunities to serve his country, who can tell by what "vision splendid" he was "on his way attended"? Who can help rejoicing that such days, brief as they were, and uplifting as they must have been, were given to this man, now past twenty?

Details concerning that trip are scanty. We know for a certainty that, starting from camp December 23, 1775, he returned to it the last week in January, 1776, having been in New London and other places seeking recruits, and going back with the recruits he himself had secured, joined by others coming from the various towns in Connecticut, and all heading toward the camp around Boston.

He received his commission as captain in the new army in January, being still in Colonel Webb's regiment, which now became the Nineteenth of the Continental Army. For a few weeks he followed the routine of his earlier months there, doing all that was possible to assist his brother officers in perfecting the discipline of the raw troops, deepening their patriotism, and proving himself a soldier as devoid of fear as he was rich in all manly qualities. Not a word of regret can be found in his diary. Acknowledging in a letter to a former pupil, Miss Betsey Christophers of New London, that the novelty and glamour of camp life had worn off, he asserts, with intense ardor, that nothing would tempt him to "accept a furlough" or shrink in any manner from any of his duties as a soldier. And so the weeks passed on.

During the winter heavy cannon from Fort Ticonderoga had been brought through the snows over the Green Mountains. The cannon were placed on Dorchester Heights which commanded the British camp, thus compelling the British general to choose between attacking the American army and evacuating the city. In a letter written in April, 1776, to his half-brother, John Augustine, Washington wrote thus regarding this time:

The enemy ... apprehending great annoyance from our new works,
resolved upon a retreat, and accordingly, on the 17th (March)
embarked in as much hurry, precipitation and confusion as ever
troops did ... leaving the King's property in Boston to the amount,
as is supposed, of thirty or forty thousand pounds in provisions
and stores.

Washington's victory in this maneuver, his first great success, tremendously cheered the hearts of all patriotic Americans. Congress gave him a vote of thanks, also a gold medal--"the first in the history of independent America"--in commemoration of the event. Here again we catch a glimpse of the delight that must have thrilled the hearts of all his officers, not least among them that of Nathan Hale. But Washington, proving himself in these earlier events, as he was to, year after year, through successive discouragements, "the first in war," turned toward New York as his next base.