“The Deerslayer, or The First War-Path” (1841) was James Fenimore Cooper’s last novel in his “Leatherstocking Tales.” Its 1740-1745 time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero of the “Leatherstocking Tales,” Natty Bumppo (or Hawkeye). The novel’s setting on Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, is the same as that of “The Pioneers,’ the first of the tales to be published (1823). “The Deerslayer” is considered to be the prequel to the rest of the series. It should have been the opening book, for in that work Natty Bumppo is seen just emerging into manhood as a young hunter among the Delaware Indians; to be succeeded by “The Last of the Mohicans,” “The Pathfinder,” “The Pioneers,” and “The Prairie.” Fenimore Cooper relates the astonishing advance of civilization in New York State, which is the setting of four of the five “Leatherstocking Tales.” “The Deerslayer” is a rousing story of warfare between the Indians and the white settlers around Otsego Lake. [Source: Preface to the Book and Wikipedia]