Big Foot, the Guide

# Big Foot, the Guide

This colonial adventure tale by W. J. Hamilton follows surveyor John Lawson and German colonist De Graffenried as they trek into the Neuse River settlement lands of North Carolina in 1712, guided by Jared Tomlinson—known to Native Americans as "Big Foot." The narrative opens at their campfire, introducing the portly, witty Tomlinson, a veteran of conflicts against Spanish and French forces who now possesses unparalleled knowledge of colonial territory and Indian nations. Tomlinson frankly discusses the Tuscarora tribe's justified territorial claims, warning that Chief Moneto will resist the surveying expedition with violence. Despite this danger, the party proceeds. The opening chapters establish Tomlinson's character through comic dialogue: his legendary appetite, his traveling-kitchen belt apparatus, his philosophy of eating and drinking, and his loyalty despite cynicism about colonial expansion. The narrative employs period detail and period attitudes toward Native Americans while centering on frontier conflict between European settlement and indigenous resistance.