Natty Bumppo
The character familiar as the young, powerful adventurer Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans is here a still quite capable woodsman at the age of 71. He comes into conflict with the attempts to impose restrictive civil laws onto his pure and free wilderness when he shoots a deer during what has been declared out of season. His lifetime of living by God’s laws places him in opposition to the civilizing necessity to impose more manageable laws intent to tame the wild life he has lived.
Judge Marmaduke Temple
The leading citizen and landholder in Templeton, a settlement intended to bring civilization to upstate New York. Honest and good, he secretly pays the fine for Bumppo’s conviction for shooting the deer. One day while hunting, he himself accidentally shoots a young man named Oliver Edwards and thereupon offers him a position as his secretary.
Oliver Edwards
Oliver Edwards turns out to actually be Oliver Edward Effingham who has arrived in Templeton under the impression that Judge Temple stole his inheritance. His plot to gain it back and enact his revenge leads to his being shot, gaining the secretary position and eventually falling in love with and marrying his benefactor’s daughter.
Elizabeth Temple
The pretty young daughter of Judge Temple is twice saved by Natty Bumppo. After he first rescues her from being attacked by a panther, she returns the kindness by helping him to escape from jail. After Natty and Oliver both save her from a fire, she finally falls in love with Oliver and once he reveals his true identity, she agrees to marry him.
Indian John
Like Natty Bumppo, Indian John is an old man who has lived free and untamed in the wilderness and rejects the attempts at civilization. In his younger days when there many more members of the Mohawk tribe than himself, he was known as Chingachgook. While he plays a much larger role in the other Leatherstocking Tales, here he transform into icon as he throws off the trappings of Christian society and dies a noble death dressed in native ceremonial dress during the which almost kills Elizabeth, Oliver and Natty Bumppo as well.
Hiram Doolittle
The appropriately named magistrate and architect of Templeton does little more than stir up unnecessary trouble when he decides to report Natty for killing deer out of season. Armed with a search warrant when he brazenly shows up at Bumppo’s cabin, he gets a beating more than warranted from the much older man.
