Art & American History: Nathan Hale, Roger Sherman, and Connecticut’s Revolutionary Legacy

Last week I wrote about the art of the American Revolution, mostly John Trumbull’s. The best of it is at the art gallery at Yale, then a Patriot hotbed. This week I’ll go colony-wide and look at heroes Nathan Hale and Roger Sherman. And I’ll say something nice about a noble Scot on the wrong side.

I’ll start with Hale (1755–1776), a savant, Yale class of 1773, born to an affluent family in Coventry, southeast of Hartford. On orders from General Howe, he was hanged on September 22, 1776, for spying. His execution was possibly on 66th and Third Avenue in Manhattan, the site now, funnily enough, of a Banana Republic. Or he may’ve been hanged near the Yale Club, across the street from Grand Central.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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Last week I wrote about the art of the American Revolution, mostly John Trumbull’s. The best of it is at the art gallery at Yale, then a Patriot hotbed. This week I’ll go colony-wide and look at heroes Nathan Hale and Roger Sherman. And I’ll say something nice about a noble Scot on the wrong side.

I’ll start with Hale (1755–1776), a savant, Yale class of 1773, born to an affluent family in Coventry, southeast of Hartford. On orders from General Howe, he was hanged on September 22, 1776, for spying. His execution was possibly on 66th and Third Avenue in Manhattan, the site now, funnily enough, of a Banana Republic. Or he may’ve been hanged near the Yale Club, across the street from Grand Central.