Chapter 1 A Brave Volunteer On September 8 1776 the United States of America was only two months old But already things weren’t looking good The thirteen American colonies had just declared their independence from Great Britain and Great Britain wasn’t happy about it British soldiers had taken over Long Island which is part of New York City British warships filled the waters around New York Many American soldiers were terrified that they were going to lose the war George Washington 13 years before he would become our first president was the commander-in-chief of the American army He knew how serious the situation was The thirteen colonies 4
General Washington’s only hope was to send a spy into Long Island to get information about the British Army How many British soldiers were there And what were they going to do next It would be a very dangerous mission The spy would be surrounded by enemies He would have to hide his true identity If he was caught he would be killed loyal officers called a secret meeting He wasn’t going to command anyone to take the job He wanted someone to volunteer Thomas Knowlton one of Washington’s most 6
Four days later Hale was Only one person stepped up I will undertake it sir said Nathan Hale a 21-year-old American soldier behind enemy lines pretending to be a schoolteacher from the Netherlands secretly collecting information about the British troops It was a good trick to pretend to be Dutch There were thousands of settlers from the Netherlands in the colonies Patriots vs Loyalists Citizens of the thirteen colonies who supported the American Revolution were given names such as Patriots Colonials Rebels or Revolutionaries Mostly they called themselves Americans But some citizens of the Colonies still supported Great Britain They were called Loyalists 7
