Captain Nathan Hale, Bronze sculpture at Department of Justice, United States
Captain Nathan Hale is a bronze sculpture on the grounds of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., along Constitution Avenue. It depicts a young man in a Revolutionary War uniform with his hands and feet bound, in the moments before his execution.
The work is based on an original design by sculptor Bela Pratt from 1914 but was cast and placed on the Justice Department grounds in 1948. Nathan Hale served as a spy for the Continental Army and was executed by British forces in New York in 1776.
The sculpture shows Nathan Hale in a moment of defeat but upright posture, which immediately catches the eye of passersby. His courage and determination have made him a symbol for American intelligence, and the CIA officially considers him its first martyr.
The sculpture stands on the publicly accessible grounds of the Justice Department and can be viewed at any time without charge. It sits close to Constitution Avenue, making it easy to stop by on foot while walking through the area.
Bela Pratt made the original model for Yale University in New Haven, where a cast still stands on campus today. The Washington version is itself a copy of a work already displayed elsewhere, which most visitors walking past never realize.
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