John Joel Glanton - Scalphunter who Flashman falls in with. He describes Glanton (who he refers to as Gallantin) as "a burly fellow with feathers in his hat and two pistols belted over his frock-coat; when he turned I saw he had a forked beard and a great red birth-mark over half his face - a Sunday school-teacher, devil a doubt." Flashman is deceived into joining a scalp-hunt, an affair that results in his capture by the Apaches.
Mangas Coloradas - Apache chief. Flashman is terrified by his physical appearance, and says, "He was a fine psychologist...an astute politician, and a bloody, cruel, treacherous barbarian who'd have been a disgrace to the Stone Age." Flashman eventually finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, forced to wed Colorado's daughter.
Geronimo - Referred to in the novel as "the Yawner," Geronimo appears as one of Flashman's Apache captors and, later, friends. Though Flashman is open about his loathing for the Apache, he also refers to Geronimo as his "closest Indian friend." Flashman also refers to his relationship with Geronimo in the early 1900s, nearly half a century after their time together.
Kit Carson - Carson makes a cameo in which he rescues a terrified Flashman from a group of pursuing Apache braves. Later, Flashman, while sitting with Carson, is mistaken for the legendary frontiersman by a drunken gold miner.
Lucien Maxwell - Maxwell is briefly part of Carson and Flashman's travelling party.
Philip Sheridan
William Tecumseh Sherman
John Pope
George Crook
Crazy Horse - Sioux leader who Flashman meets twice only briefly, first as a child in the company of Spotted Tail, and later during his captivity at Greasy Grass. Flashman describes him as "young and wiry, lean-faced and lank-haired and without paint - but with those eyes he didn't need any."
Ulysses S. Grant - President of the United States during the present novel, but Flashman evidently knows him from before. He says, "Grant was the same burly, surly bargee I remembered, more like a city storekeeper than the first-rate soldier he'd been and the disillusioned President he was."
William B. Allison - Flashman accompanies him to Fort Robinson and translates in his negotiations with the Sioux for the Black Hills. Flashman calls him "a Senator of unusual stupidity and flatulence". In an uncharacteristic show of sympathy for the Black Hills Sioux, Flashman suggests that had Allison been less sanctimonious, the entire war could have been avoided.
Alfred Terry
Red Cloud
George Armstrong Custer - American soldier famous for his Last Stand at Greasy Grass. Flashman is acquainted with him from the American Civil War and clearly finds him annoying but also refers to him as a good cavalryman. Flashman refers to Custer as "a reckless firebrand who absolutely enjoyed warfare, and would have been better suited to the Age of Chivalry, when he'd have broken the Holy Grail in his hurry to get at it." When, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Flashman urges Custer to retreat, he is rebuffed—a decision that clearly resulted in the subsequent massacre of the 7th Cavalry at Last Stand Hill.
Elizabeth Bacon Custer
Thomas Custer
Boston Custer
Marcus Reno
Frederick Benteen
Myles Keogh
James Calhoun
Henry Armstrong Reed
John Gibbon
George Yates
James Butler
Chief Gall
Wild Bill Hickok
Richens Lacey Wootton
Frank Grouard - In Flashman and the Redskins, Grouard is revealed to be Flashman's illegitimate son. MacDonald Fraser takes significant liberty in adapting Grouard's personal history so as to complete the novel's story. For example, Grouard is portrayed as having a Harvard education and having a friendly relationship with Spotted Tail.
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