Nearly everyone is familiar with the famous words, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” and nearly everyone knows that these words were uttered by a man named Patrick Henry. Except for these words, most people know very little about Patrick Henry. Few realize that he became one of the great leaders in Virginia and in all the colonies.

This book, which has been written by a distinguished scholar and educator, tells how young Pat Henry grew up in colonial Virginia. As a boy Pat had a very thrilling life in the backwoods of Virginia—a life filled with exciting adventures.

From his earliest childhood, Pat manifested a great love of nature. He felt a strong attraction for the woods and wanted to become a great hunter and trapper like his mother’s brother, Langloo Winston.

When Uncle Langloo returned from his hunting and trapping expeditions on the frontier, he related many tales of true adventure to Pat and the other Henry children. Pat listened intently to everything his uncle said about Indians and life in the woods.

Uncle Langloo taught the Henry children many important things about frontier life.

Later he took Pat on hunting trips and visits to Indian villages deep in the forest.

At first Pat seemed destined to become a real “buckskin,” but history had a larger and more important role for him to play. For a time he ran a farm and a store, then later he became a lawyer, one of the most distinguished lawyers in Virginia.

Pat loved to help people, especially the common folk. He understood their problems and wasn’t afraid to speak out in their behalf. Nor was he afraid to speak out against anything that he considered unjust, such as the laws of England that harmed the colonies.

As years went by Patrick Henry became a famous leader and orator, but he never let fame make him proud or haughty. Even after he became a man of high responsibility, he loved to steal away and hunt, fish, and trap with the farmers and settlers of Virginia’s backwoods. He never lost his great love for people and all living things in nature.

Thomas Frank Barton has written an excellent account of Patrick Henry’s boyhood, setting the story against the authentic background of colonial Virginia. From the pages of this volume, Henry emerges as an animated and courageous patriot destined to become the “Father of Virginia.”

From the dust jacket