Known to generations of Americans for his stirring call to arms, "Give me liberty or give me death," Patrick Henry is all but forgotten today as the first of the Founding Fathers to call for independence, the first to call for revolution, and the first to call for a bill of rights. If Washington was the "Sword of the Revolution" and Jefferson, "the Pen," Patrick Henry more than earned his epithet as "the Trumpet" of the Revolution for rousing Americans

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Drawing on a wide range of sources, including original archival research, Stephen Brumwell paints a compelling and challenging portrait of an extraordinary individual whose fusion of gentleman and warrior left an indelible imprint upon history.

Discusses Valley Forge within the larger context of the Revolutionary War, linking the winter stay of the Continental Army during 1777 and 1778 to such events as the negotiations with the French and the maneuvering of the Continental Congress.