In this case the hyphen is necessary because it indicated that the tail is red, not the pheasant. The hyphen attaches the color red to tail. Red-tailed is a compound adjective that identify the pheasant.
A hyphen is not needed in twentieth century because it is a common phrase that readers know go together. The hyphen between tall and dark is incorrect. Tall and dark both describe the man, rather than each other. The same is true for long-winding. Long and winding describe the road. Long does not describe the winding.
The last paragraph explains that too many false alarms can be dangerous to one's health, which is important to explain since the rest of the passage seems to promote stress as a way to survive or thrive in moments of crisis.
Patrick Henry lays out the hard truth: Great Britain isn't going to hand out liberty and respect until they have to. The colonists need to be willing to fight and die for it.