Statue of Nathan Hale. It was during his treated that an event occurred which showed how much Americans were willing to venture and how bravely they could die for the cause in which they were engaged. A young Connecticut soldier, a Yale student, Captain Nathan Hale, had volunteered to go within the British lines on Long Island that he might learn the position of the enemy. On the way back he was arrested. No trial was allowed him. He was not shot as a soldier, but was hanged. 'I only regret,' he said, as he was about to die, 'that I have but one life to give for my country.'-Scudder, 1897