Nathan Hale, the Connecticut native who spied for the Continental Army, was executed by British troops 250 years ago on August 22, 1776.
Hale died at just 21 years old. He’s Connecticut’s state hero — but he’s not a household name. That’s part of why Connecticut writer Scott Smith has written two books featuring Hale: The Spy and the Seamstress and A Most Revolutionary Watch.
He spoke to WSHU about his writing process and why Hale has been a recurring character.
WSHU: Why did you choose to write about Nathan Hale?
SS: My interest in Nathan Hale really started when I saw Hamilton, the Broadway play. It cast Alexander Hamilton in such a new, and I'll use the word colorful, light. It sort of just woke me up to the American Revolution, and as a writer and as a Connecticut resident and sort of a burgeoning historian, I was looking for a character, and I sort of came across Nathan Hale. He's the state hero of Connecticut, and I began to sort of think about him in comparison to Alexander Hamilton. And there's so much in common. They were both 21 years old. They were both captains in the Continental Army, serving in Manhattan; they were both Ivy League graduates. They were both ladies' men. But one big difference: when George Washington asked for really a gentleman, an officer spy to go behind enemy lines, Nathan Hale raised his hand, and Alexander Hamilton didn't. Alexander Hamilton went on to make a fantastic contribution to America as one of our founding fathers, and he got a play on Broadway. Nathan Hale went to an unmarked grave and got a book by me, essentially an unknown author.
WSHU: There are so many things that we don't know about Nathan Hale. There are no portraits of him that exist. His body was never found. His last words are not actually definitively known. Does that make it more difficult to write about him?
SS: No, not really. Nathan and his friends wrote a lot of letters, and then he kept sort of a partial diary that also gave some insight into what he was thinking and his career. And I really tried in the book The Spy and the Seamstress to remain really faithful to his actual life. So almost all the scenes that Nathan Hale is in really did happen. I mean, I had to fill in the blanks, but I think that part of the excitement of writing historical fiction is to fill in the blanks and make characters come alive.
WSHU: Neither of your books read as historical biographies, per se. You say that they fictionalize a lot of the details. What role do you think that books like yours play when you're studying American history? Do you think you're bringing in people who might otherwise not be as interested in the Revolution?
SS: I think it's a great question. I hope so. I mean, the goal was to make Nathan Hale come alive and really to show his maturity over time. You know, my impression of Nathan Hale was, up until his college days at Yale, and he went to Yale very young, he was sort of a playboy, a drinker. You know, he almost got himself thrown out of Yale, and then he sort of grew up, joined the Continental Army, became a leader of men, and began to assume that responsibility. His major statement that's remembered in history is, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country. But he also said that, and I'm paraphrasing right now off the top of my head, that anything that you do to help the glorious cause of independence is by itself honorable, and where many people felt being a spy was dishonorable, he said, no, if that's what it takes to win the war, it's honorable. I just give him a lot of credit for stepping up. He was a failed spy, and I understand that, but in my mind, he's still a hero.
