Follow the River

Content Warning: This section includes discussions of anti-Indigenous racism, torture, potential sexual assault, wartime atrocities, and physical and psychological suffering. The source material’s use of outdated, racist language for Indigenous Americans is replicated only in direct quotations.

Mary is the 23-year-old main protagonist of Follow the River. She was born in Philadelphia to parents from County Donegal, Ireland. She has a close, loving relationship with her husband, William “Will” Ingles, and lives in Draper’s Meadow with her two sons, Tommy and George. Mary is the quintessential 18th-century white frontier woman; she is a tough and savvy survivalist who holds racist beliefs about Indigenous Americans based on hearsay and rumors. For instance, when captured, she “remembers tales she had heard about savages ripping unborn infants from the womb and throwing them into stewpots to boil before the very eyes of their dying mothers” (43). Despite these prejudicial beliefs, she develops a rapport with Captain Wildcat, the Shawnee chieftain who captures her after the raid on Draper’s Meadow.

In the beginning of the story, Mary is content with her life and work despite her looming fear of attack by Indigenous Americans. A good housewife, she is happy to look after her husband and children.