On this day 250 years ago on Manhattan Island in New York, Capt. Nathan Hale was executed by the British as a spy. Although it was first asserted years later that Hale’s final words were “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” contemporary accounts state that he said something to the effect that “he thought it the duty of every good officer to obey any orders given him by his commander in chief, and desired the spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear.” Whatever his final words, we should all honor that Nathan Hale gave his life for the United States of America.

In addition to his final words, the exact location was hung is also the subject of debate. There is one historical marker on East 44th Street at Vanderbilt Avenue across the street from Grand Central Station claiming to mark the location and another on Third Avenue at East 65th Street. Hale’s body was left hanging for several days and then buried in an unmarked grave nearby.

Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nathan-hale-doomed-patriot-spy-probably-never-said-i-only-regret-that-i-have-but-one-life-to-lose-for-my-country-before-his-execution-180987353/; https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/nathan-hale; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=310099; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=310350

On this day 250 years ago in the Oconaluftee Valley of North Carolina, Cherokee warriors fired on the 2800 North Carolina militia led by Brig. Gen. Griffith Rutherford killing Private Joshua Turner of 1st Batalion of Rowan County militia and a Private Young and wounded John Howard. One Cherokee was killed. Young was a “married man” so presumably left a widow.

Source: “Revolutionary Diary of William Lenoir”, The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 6, No. 2 (May, 1940), pp. 247-259 at 256 accessed at

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2191209?origin=crossref&seq=1