Hale died, and the war went on. Today was more brutal than yesterday, and tomorrow would be worse still. Sensible men prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear. In a somber letter to a friend in Ireland, Lieutenant Cliffe of the 46th Foot described the fraught week in New York. “The horrors of a civil war are every day before my eyes,” he wrote. “I also saw a spy hanging up, a captain of the rebels, a very genteel-looking fellow, and Gen. Washington’s effigy hanging over him.” Then Cliffe averted his gaze and added: “I never saw a more beautiful country.”
