similar emotions
in his own soul. Fully three weeks prior to that notable scene in
Congress, in a letter to his wife in which he was speaking of the
amazing military spirit then running through the continent, and of the
military appointments then held by several of his Philadelphia
friends, he exclaimed in his impulsive way, "Oh that I were a soldier!
I will be."[166] And on the very day on which he joined in the escort
of the new generals, Washington, Lee, and Schuyler, on their first
departure from Philadelphia for the American camp, he sent off to his
wife a characteristic letter revealing something of the anguish with
which he, a civilian, viewed the possibility of his being at a
disadvantage with these military men in the race for glory:--

"The three generals were all mounted on horseback,
accompanied by Major Mifflin, who is gone in the character
of aide-de-camp. All the delegates from the Massachusetts,
with their servants and carriages, attended. Many others of
the delegates from the Congress; a large troop of light
horse in their uniforms; many officers of militia, besides,
in theirs; music playing, etc., etc. Such is the pride and
pomp of war. I, poor creature, worn out with scribbling for
my bread and my liberty, low in spirits and weak in health,
must leave to others to wear the laurels which I have sown;
others to eat the bread which I have earned."[167]

Of Patrick Henry, however, it may be said that his permanent fame as
an orator and a statesman has almost effaced the memory of the fact
that, in the first year of the war, he had considerable prominence as
a soldier; that it was then believed by many, and very likely by
himself, that, having done as much as any man to bring on the war, he
was next to do as much as any man in the actual conduct of it, and was
thus destined to add to a civil renown of almost unapproached
brilliance, a similar renown for splendid talents in the field. At any
rate, the "first overt act of war" in Virginia, as Jefferson
testifies,[168] was committed by Patrick Henry. The first physical
resistance to a royal governor, which in Massachusetts was made by the
embattled farmers at Lexington and Concord, was made in Virginia
almost as early, under the direction and inspiration of Patrick
Henry's leadership. In the first organization of the Revolutionary
army in Virginia, the chief command was given to Patrick Henry.
Finally,