Revolutionary Soldier Sojourns to Rathbun Memorial Library

Steven P Shaw, in the guise of Nathan Hale, came to Rathbun Memorial Library, right across the street from the Nathan Hale School House, to tell an audience about the life of Nathan Hale.

Shaw was dressed in a waistcoat, britches and gators that button into the britches. He was carrying a musket, haversack, cartridge box and a canteen.

Shaw said Nathan Hale started college at the age of 14.  He was on the debate team and argued for girls being educated and his side of the debate won. Hale came to East Haddam in 1773 for his very first teaching job but school wasn't mandatory in East Haddam and a lot of times he didn't have many children to teach.

According to Shaw, Hale found it so boring that very shortly after his arrival he started making plans to teach somewhere else the next year. In 1774 he went to New London to teach.  That school was four times larger and he had 32 students all the time

Hale joined the militia company while he was in New London and he was quickly promoted to sergeant.  Shaw told the audience that when British troops were preparing to attack Long Island Washington had Hale spy on the British.

“Hale volunteered to go behind British lines posing as a schoolmaster to ascertain what weapons they had and where they were hiding them,” said Shaw.

Like many past wars, the Revolutionary War pitted neighbor against neighbor. Loyalists, who did not want the country to be independent of Great Britain, knew Hale and knew he was working for George Washington. They followed Hale gathering information of his spying and then turned him in when they saw where he hid his notes.

History tells us that just before his execution Hale said, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

Shaw showed the audience how the musket worked. “Lock, stock and barrel, going off half cocked and flash in a pan were all expressions that came from using a musket. You would be lucky to hit something at 50 yards with a musket,” said Shaw.

One of the attendees was Linda Wallace, the Regent for the Nathan Hale Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. “I try to be involved with anything to do with Nathan Hale,” said Wallace.

Wallace brought along her grandsons who are seven and nine years old. They were among the children who were attending that belong to the Sgt. David Thompson Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution organization. David Thompson was a patriot from Old Saybrook. The boys were wearing replica of the hat that Nathan Hale would have worn, which Shaw showed them the correct way to wear.

 “I have been a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) for 19 years. In my role as the Property Steward, I manage our three museums, which are the Nathan Hale Schoolhouses in East Haddam and New London and the War Office in Lebanon. The beams and structure of the East Haddam Nathan Hale School House are original.” said Shaw. “I got involved in SAR by doing their database because I had computer experience. Now I have my own computer business. The SAR color guard does about 40 events a year. I don’t have time to do them all but I do quite a few.”