Gives his life for his country
Hale was sent to New York immediately and placed before General Howe, to whom he said frankly that he was a spy. The British general wrote out his death warrant, "to be hanged to-morrow morning at sunrise." Not even the death of a soldier was to be his. His brutal guard refused to let him send a last letter to his people. Alone he spent the night, without the comfort of friend or minister. At daybreak he was dragged forth to execution. A crowd of strange people had gathered to see him die. It is said that the officer asked him if there was anything he wished to say. Brave to the last, Nathan Hale answered: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Thus, at the age of twenty-two, died Nathan Hale, who held his country dearer than his own life.
GENERALS GREENE, MORGAN, AND MARION, THE MEN WHO HELPED WIN THE SOUTH FROM THE BRITISH
Moultrie repulses attack on Charleston
95. The War in the South. Early in the Revolutionary War British vessels made an attack on Charleston, South Carolina (1776). But Colonel Moultrie, from his rude fort of palmetto logs, gave them such a welcome that they were glad to get away, and for two years the British gave the southern colonies little trouble.
NATHANAEL GREENE
From a painting by Charles Wilson Peale, once owned by Mrs. William Brenton Greene, Jr., Princeton, New Jersey, and now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia
Charleston surrenders to Cornwallis