The most important character in the novel is the narrator, Hugh McNeal.

All the events are told as he experiences them, or rather as the author imagines he might have experienced them. He is a keen observer and an able soldier but one not above making mistakes, as when he hurts his hand badly and then becomes much less useful to the Corps. Brought up with a knowledge of boats and rivers by his father, whose wisdom in such matters he often recalls, he advises the leaders on handling the keelboat that Captain Lewis had specially built (not very well, as it turns out) for the expedition. Like any young man, he is attracted by the idea of exploring a vast, unknown territory, but being prudent, too, he does not at first jump at the opportunity. Nevertheless, when he is tapped for the job...