Henry Lee learnt to ride before he was five, joined Washington's Army at nineteen, and was appointed Captain of the Fifth Troop of Virginia Dragoons at twenty. At twenty-two, Colonel Lee took command of a mixed cavalry and infantry unit known as "Lee's Legion"—the finest offensive team in the Continental Army. Nicknamed "Light-Horse Harry" for his raids on British supply wagons, the young Virginian quickly earned a reputation for horsemanship and distinguished himself as one of the most skilled and courageous cavalry officers of the American Revolution.

After the war Lee served in the Virginia legislature, in Congress, in the Virginia Convention of 1788 that ratified the federal Constitution, and as governor of the state. His political career was interrupted while he commanded the Army to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. From 1799 to 1801 he served in the House of Representatives.

Noel B. Gerson charts the triumphs and tragedies of one of the nation's most distinguished citizens, whose rise to fame was overshadowed by bankruptcy, imprisonment, and injuries he received from an angry mob. Drawing on a wealth of contemporary sources, including private correspondence and Lee's own published memoirs, Gerson masterfully portrays a dedicated patriot and natural-born soldier, a trait he passed on to his son, General Robert E. Lee.