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What historical event at Fort William Henry appears in The Last of the Mohicans?
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James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper, painting by John Wesley Jarvis, 1822; in the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York.
The pivotal historical event depicted in The Last of the Mohicans is the massacre at Fort William Henry.1
Occurring in 1757 during the French and Indian War, this event serves as the central "factual" set piece around which James Fenimore Cooper constructs his narrative. In the novel, the massacre provides the backdrop for the characters' struggles, including the efforts of the frontiersman Natty Bumppo (Hawkeye) and his Mohican companions to protect the daughters of a British colonel amidst the brutal conflict.1