In 1776, Paine enlisted in the Continental army to fight the British. However he may have contributed on the battlefield, Paine’s greatest contribution to the war effort was through his pen, rather than his “sword.” In “The Crisis, No. 1,” Thomas Paine uses metaphors to persuade the American public to continue supporting the Revolutionary war. Thomas Paine is considered by many to be the most persuasive writer of the American Revolution.