Chingachgook is a fictional character in four of James Fenimore Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales, including his 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans. Chingachgook was a lone Mohican chief and companion of the series' hero, Natty Bumppo. In The Deerslayer, Chingachgook married Wah-ta-Wah, who bore him a son named Uncas, but died while she was still young. Uncas, who was at his birth "last of the Mohicans", grew to manhood but was killed in a battle with the Huron warrior Magua. Chingachgook died as an old man in the novel The Pioneers, which makes him the actual "last of the Mohicans," having outlived his son. The Leatherstocking Tales In the series The Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper, Chingachgook is the best friend and companion of the main character Natty Bumppo, aka Hawkeye. He appears in The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, and The Pioneers. He is characterized by his skills as a warrior and forester, his bravery, his wisdom, and his pride for his tribe. Other literature Chingachgook is a major character in Song of the Mohicans by Paul Block (Bantam Books, 1985, ), a sequel to The Last of the Mohicans. Taking up the story a few days after Uncas' death and burial, it recounts the adventures of Hawkeye and Chingachgook as they travel north to discover the connection between an Oneida brave and the Mohican tribe, and whether a sachem truly holds the key to the ultimate fate of the Mohicans. Etymology and pronunciation Chingachgook is said to have been modeled after a real-life wandering Mohican basket maker and hunter named Captain John. The fictional character, occasionally called John Mohegan in the series, was an idealized embodiment of the traditional noble savage. The French often refer to Chingachgook as "", the Great Snake, because he understands the winding ways of men's nature and he can strike a sudden, deadly blow. The name is derived from the Lenape language, which is closely related to the Mohican language. In Lenape, means 'big' and means 'snake'. Chingachgook is derived from Lenape , 'big snake', pronounced . The digraph in the spelling used by John Heckewelder, the source for the name, and the letter in modern Lenape spelling both represent the voiceless velar fricative sound (as in "Bach"), not the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate (as in "church"). Cooper got the name from Heckewelder's book History, Manners, and Customs of