“The Last of the Mohicans” is James Fenimore Cooper’s best-known work and the total of what many people know about the French and Indian War. The book is often required reading in schools and several movies have been based on the novel. But, how much of the American classic is history and how much is fiction?
Dr. Nick Junkerman, Associate Professor of English Literature at Skidmore College, addressed this question in a program titled, “James Fenimore Cooper: History & Fiction in ‘The Last of the Mohicans.’” The presentation was held at the Fort William Henry Conference Center in Lake George Thursday evening, August 3.
The event, which was attended by more than 150 people, was presented by the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance and the French and Indian War Society at Lake George as part of a series of programs focused on the Lake George region’s early history.
President of the Alliance John DiNuzzo introduced the program saying, “It was precisely 266 years ago today that the siege of Fort William Henry began … If we were here 266 years ago, we would be hearing gunfire, canons, all sorts of horror…” DiNuzzo continues, “It’s significant to America when we talk about that anniversary, certainly significant, as Nick [Junkerman] will be telling us, to the literary history of the world and of our country.”
The bloodshed at Fort William Henry that followed the 1757 siege and surrender gripped the collective psyche of the colonists and clung there as contemporary news reports and, nearly 70 years later, Cooper’s novel, set down in ink the gruesome details. DiNuzzo, in his introduction, said he believes it “…motivated the British, the provincials who fought for the British, i.e., the Americans, and even 20 years later when the revolution began, that was…
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