After reading a recent biography of Nathan Hale's Revolutionary War service, I am appalled that his commanding officers accepted his offer to spy. This was a 21-year-old man built like a truck at 6' and amazingly athletic as well as handsome. He had what was described by contemporaries as a regal bearing and was notoriously devout. He completely lacked guile and was characterized variously as a leader, a flirt, and a prayerful man. He very likely was incapable of lying or cheating. Attributes which are, in essence, what a spy needs. In addition, the intelligence he was sent to retrieve was useless before he even made it behind enemy lines.
It's a good thing we remember this man as the one who regrets that he had but one life to lose for his country, because the circumstances of his capture are an embarassment. It is a testament to his character that in posterity, he has risen above them.
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