I must write to some of my other brothers lest you should not be at
home. Remain

Your friend &c
BROTHER NA. HALE.

MR. ENOCH HALE.

Aside from this letter, the following brief quotations from his diary
are all that remain to us in the handwriting of Nathan Hale. Till he
lays down his pen for the last time we see him absorbed in the cares and
duties of the life about him, fearlessly facing whatever remains to him
of life and service.

Aug. 21st. Heavy storm at Night. Much and heavy Thunder. Capt. Van
Wyke, and a Lieut, and Ens. of Colo. McDougall's Regt. killed by a
Shock. Likewise one man in town, belonging to a Militia Regt. of
Connecticut. The Storm continued for two or three hours, for the
greatest part of which time [there] was a perpetual Lightning, and
the sharpest I ever knew.

22d. Thursday. The enemy landed some troops down at the Narrows on
Long Island.

23d. Friday. Enemy landed more troops--News that they had marched
up and taken Station near Flatbush, their advce Gds [advance
guards] being on this side near the Woods--that some of our
Rifle-men attacked and drove them back from their post, burnt 2
stacks of hay, and it was thought killed some of them--this about
12 O'clock at Night. Our troops attacked them at their station near
Flatb. [Flatbush], routed and drove them back 1-1/2 mile.

One of the facts most perplexing to General Washington was what appeared
to be Sir William Howe's delay in making an attack. Indeed, to an
outsider unfamiliar with military tactics, Howe's conduct resembles the
cruel pleasure a cat sometimes takes in tormenting a mouse that it knows
cannot escape. The uncertainty as to what the next British move might be
caused much anxiety. Remembering that Howe's force had arrived the last
of June, one sees how leisurely must have been his preparations for
attack, and how assured his hope of victory.

The expected attack occurred on August 27. The Americans were defeated
and driven within their works, their losses being great, especially in
prisoners. The Nineteenth Regiment was held in reserve, but Captain Hull
wrote that they were near enough to witness the carnage among their
fellow-soldiers.

The night after the battle the enemy encamped within a few hundred yards
of the defeated Americans. On the 29th Washington decided upon a retreat
to New York, and it was effected that n