John Marrant
John Marrant is the protagonist of this autobiography, although it was most likely transcribed according to dictation and thus highly edited. He is an active, passionate person from his youth, born a free black man in 1775. Finding music in his teens, John pursues a lifelong romance with the art, accruing quite a reputation among his local community. He converts after crashing a church service with friends one day, and this is his self-described most defining moment.
At any rate, this religious commitment is what leads to the publication of John's autobiography eventually, after the war. He serves as a minister perpetually after that moment -- among his family, among the Cherokee people, among his fellow impressed British soldiers, and finally as an ordained minister in Nova Scotia after the war.
George Whitehead
George is a Methodist preacher, renowned across continents. He is delivering the sermon which John first attends and which inspires his conversion. The two reunite in London, when John is dropped there after the war. Profoundly impacted by John's life story, he puts him in touch with his own benefactor -- Lady Huntingdon.
The Countess of Huntingdon
She is a wealthy British heiress, passionate about her religious convictions. After hearing John's story, she arranges to have him ordained as a Methodist preacher and to have his autobiography published. She takes great personal pride in the publication of the document.
The Cherokee Hunter
This man befriends John after John's family rejects him. He is interested in John's new religion and urges him to tell his people more. Traveling with him, the hunter takes John all around America to visit the various Cherokee peoples. Eventually they part ways, only after living together with a tribe for a few years.
