To Hang a Hero Episode 4

September, 1776

One year before General Lafayette meets the Yankee Doodle Society, they accept a voluntary  assignment that requires them to go to New York to locate a rebel spy who has not been heard from at head-quarters for a long time.  They carefully read their documents including a description of the spy, then the papers are destroyed.

At a popular tavern in New York, a man enters who matches the description given to the Society.  Jeremy and Henry watch over their shoulders as he takes a seat at one of the tables.

His name is Nathan Hale, a former school teacher, and he looks up in surprise as Jeremy and Henry sit down at his table uninvited.  "Schoolmaster, I am in need of a tutor," Jeremy says. "I don't mean  to seem rude, but I have this lesson to prepare." "Isn't it time you finished it?  It's eight days overdue," Henry says.

Suspiciously, Hale gazes at the red support ribbons pinned to their lapels. "You didn't expect us to wear the blue and buff, did you?" Jeremy asks. "We've no time for games," Jeremy says.  He explains that they are from General Washington, and want to know why he has been detained.  He explained that the British cavalry is planning some kind of attack.

Hale has organized a group of young men who are acting with him as spies, and Jeremy and Henry attend one of their meetings.  During this meeting, it is reported that the British have been gathering horses.  When the British get wind of a large gathering of civilians, they investigate, but only find Schoolmaster Hale conducting a class of students. "From now on, no gatherings of more than five," Hale is told by the soldiers.

Isak is being detained by the British as a servant, and Jeremy assures him that he is in a position to hear a great deal.  Meanwhile, Nathan's cousin Samuel arrives, unaware that he was in New York.  Nathan is immediately uncomfortable by his presence.

In private, a soldier approaches Samuel and questions him about Nathan, indicating that he's certain that he was a rebel soldier he encountered at Bunker Hill.  Suspicious of Nathan's evasiveness, Samuel follows his cousin as he makes his rounds, meeting secretly with members of his spy team.  When he returns to the tavern, Samuel begins to question Nathan and manages to catch him in a lie.

Samuel asks the soldier to verify that Nathan was the man he saw at Bunker Hill.  When he confirms this, Samuel conducts a search of Nathan's person, and finds sensitive documents which proves that he is an American spy.  He takes Nathan to his commanding officer, General Howe.

His duty to the crown fulfilled, Samuel is praised by General Howe, who announces that Hale will be executed the next day. Samuel pleads for his cousin's life, citing his youth as the cause of his rebelliousness. Later, in private, Howe finally agrees to commute the death sentence if Hale will publicly renounce the cause.

The Society decides to rescue Nathan, but knows that the three of them alone cannot succeed, so Jeremy attempts to pursuade the members of the spy team to assist them. The young spies decline, fearful that they will be captured and executed as well.  With no other recourse, the Society decides to go forward without them.

Henry visits Nathan by pretending to be a student offering Biblical comfort.   From Scripture, Henry recites: "Fear not, thou shall not die.  I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."

Through the window, Nathan sees Jeremy and Isak outside in preparation for the rescue, but the placement of additional guards forces them to abandon the plan.