This book is the second of the Leatherstocking Tales in chronological time (after the events of The Deerslayer), but the second book to be published by the author in the series (after The Pioneers). This book is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War, and is set in upstate New York, some fifty miles north of Albany. The book is another tale of Hawkeye, otherwise known as Natty Bumpo, and his Delaware Indian companions, and is a good book, with a fairly convoluted plot.
At Fort Edward, a detachment of about a thousand Anglo-English soldiers at Fort Edward, which is commanded by General Daniel Webb, leave for Fort William Henry, some twenty miles north, on the southern end of what is now Lake George. Fort William Henry is held by Lieutenant Colonel George Munro, but it is in danger from the French forces of Major General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. The daughters of Munro, Cora and Alice, leave Fort Edward for Fort William Henry; they are accompanied by Major Duncan Heyward, and led on an alternative route by a native named Magua. They are joined by one David Gamut, who is a singing teacher totally unconscious of danger in the wilderness. Major Heyward, who has feelings for Alice Munro, begins to think the party is being led astray by Magua, and they head in another direction, and meet up with Hawkeye and his two Mohican friends, Chingachgook and his son Uncas. On realizing that he has been unmasked as a Huron (and aligned, not with the British, but the French), Magua escapes, and the party heads for Fort William Henry. There are several pitched battles, several captures of principal characters by hostile Indians, several rescues, and at least once massacre described in quite lurid detail. Through it all, Magua acts as a wily man who is actuated by a spirit of revenge against Lieutenant Colonel Munro, and by extension to his family.
This is a very good book, though quite complicated, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
From The Recamier 