By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CITY HALL PARK — The anniversary of the death of Nathan Hale, the Revolutionary War spy who was said to be hanged outside City Hall in 1776, was observed with a small ceremony at City Hall Park on Wednesday.
Organized by the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, the ceremony included a reading of the Mayor’s Proclamation stating that Sept. 22, 2010 was Nathan Hale Day by Namshik Yoon, the Manhattan Chief of Operations for the Parks Department.
"We not only recognize the manner in which he died, but also how he lived," Yoon read aloud.
"As a devoted member of his community and a heroic soldier, long before he gave his famous speech in the face of death, Hale said 'Every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary.'"
The "Peace Chorus" of P.S. 164, in Flushing, and students from Manhattan's P.S. 124 performed songs about Nathan Hale and wreaths were left at the base of Hale's statue.
Hale, a young school teacher, Yale University graduate, and army captain who volunteered as a spy for George Washington, paid for it with his life when he was captured by the British and hanged on Sept. 22nd, 1776.
Perhaps best known for his purported last words of "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country," Hale served as an inspiration to the beleaguered citizens of New York City, which had been occupied by the British only days earlier.
The 13-foot statue of Hale that stands across from City Hall captures the Revolutionary War hero's last moments and was given to the city by the Sons of the Revolutionin 1893.
