Nathan Hale

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Nathan Hale by Frederick William MacMonnies, 1890
City Hall Park
Civic Center, Lower Manhattan
New York, September 2007

“This graceful, 13-foot standing bronze figure, sculpted by Frederick MacMonnies (1863-1937), directly faces City Hall and honors the last moments of the 21-year-old American Revolution era spy, Nathan Hale (1755-1776). Disguised as a Dutch schoolteacher, Hale attempted to infiltrate New York’s British ranks to gather intelligence on the enemy’s Long Island military installations. The young man was captured, however, on the night of September 21, 1776 and hanged for treason the next morning on a gallows believed to have been erected near 63rd Street and First Avenue. Since no life portraits of the patriot spy exist, Frederick Macmonnies’s work offers a romantic interpretation of Hale. The bronze statue of the shackled and bound Hale is set upon a granite base and illustrates the hero’s last predawn moments. Though only 26 when he won the Nathan Hale Memorial Competition, Macmonnies’s sculpture brought him great renown in New York City and also won him a medal from the prestigious Paris Salon.” (Nathan Hale, NYC Parks)