One of the events that took place the same day of Nathan Hale’s capture is that there was a huge fire in New York that burned about a quarter of the city.

Now, the British thought that it was started by American saboteurs to prevent the city from falling into British hands. However, while that idea had come up, George Washington was under orders not to do so, and they therefore denied any responsibility. For their part, the Americans suggested that British soldiers were responsible for the fire (without orders to do so), to enable them to sack the city.

There is a third possibility out there that’s been floated, and that would be that Hale was responsible for setting the fire. However, he was across the river in Queens when he was arrested, so it’s not likely at all that he was the culprit; in fact, there’s really no evidence that arson specifically was to blame for the fire. It’s not known where it started, or whether it began in more than one place. What is known is that the weather conditions (dry and windy), plus the wooden buildings and narrow roads, made it easy for the fire to spread, and when it stopped, it was as much by wind changes as any efforts by people to put it out. (Also, a large undeveloped property acted as a fire-break.)

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