Plot

Characters in Lonesome Dove

• Captain Augustus McCrae - Co-owner of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, McCrae considers himself the brains of the outfit. Generous, humorous, and lazy to the point of eccentricity, he serves as a foil to the more serious, practical Call. When not working (which he does as little as possible), Gus pursues his three chief interests in life: women, alcohol and cards. He is well-known in the territory for his loud voice, superior eyesight and accuracy with a revolver.
• Captain Woodrow F. Call - Gus's partner in the company. Less verbose and chatty than McCrae, Call works long and hard and sees no reason why others shouldn't do the same. A former Texas Ranger who won a merit award from the Governor of Texas for "courage under fire", he served with Gus when both were young men. Though Call has utter disdain for lazy men who drink, gamble, and whore their lives away, he's his own secret shame which he hides carefully from his comrade. Call's ability to "break" unmanageable horses is also well-known.
• Pea Eye Parker - The wrangler and blacksmith of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, Pea Eye served as a corporal in the Rangers under Gus and Call. Pea Eye (his real name long forgotten) isn't especially bright, but he's reliable, brave, and kind. He follows Call's lead without question.
• Joshua Deets - An ex-slave and former Ranger, Deets is a ranch hand at the company. On the drive, he serves as scout. A remarkable tracker and morally upright man, he's one of the few men whom Call respects and trusts.
• Newt Dobbs - A young orphan raised by Gus and Call. His mother was a prostitute named Maggie Tilton, who died when he was a child. He knows his mother was a prostitute, and has no idea who his father might be. Most other observers, notably Gus and Clara Allen, are quite certain that Call is his father. Call eventually comes to this realization privately, but is never able to admit it explicitly.
• Jake Spoon - A former comrade-in-arms of Gus, Call, Pea Eye, and Deets. Jake is, if anything, lazier than Gus, but without the latter's redeeming virtues. A gambler and drinker, Jake prefers living in luxury and ease and shirks work with a passion, which irks Call mightily. He is, however, a man of great personal charm and is seldom unlucky in love.
• Dishwater Boggett - A cowboy of great skill, "Dish" serves as the top hand for Call's cattle drive. His main aspiration is to win the love of Lorena Wood.
• Lorena Wood - A kind-hearted young woman who was forced into prostitution by her lover, she was then abandoned in Lonesome Dove. Lorena is silent, strong willed, and intimidating, refusing to submit meekly to her various admirers. Discontent with her line of work, "Lorie" hopes to leave the dead town and find her way to San Francisco.
• Blue Duck - When Gus and Call quit Rangering, Blue Duck was unfinished business. The son of a Comanche war chief and his Mexican prisoner, Blue Duck leads a band of renegade Indians and buffalo hunters. He is feared across the plains as a murderer, rapist, and slaver.
• July Johnson - The sheriff of the town of Fort Smith, Arkansas. July is a kind, long-suffering young man, recently married to a woman he knows little about and who is utterly disdainful of his attention. After his brother, Ben, is accidentally killed by Jake Spoon, July's domineering sister-in-law Peach bullies him into setting out in pursuit. July is accompanied by his young stepson, Joe, and his incompetent deputy, Roscoe.
• Roscoe Brown - The deputy sheriff of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Roscoe is a timid man who spends his days playing dominoes and occasionally bringing in the local drunk for an overnight stay at the jail. After July is sent off after Jake Spoon, Roscoe is coerced into tracking down July's wife, Elmira, who has run away in July's absence. Roscoe is also afraid of wild pigs. He, along with Joe, are later killed by Blue Duck.
• Clara Allen - A former love of Gus, she declined his marriage proposals years ago. She lives in Nebraska, married to a Bob Allen, a horse trader who is comatose, having been kicked in the head by a horse. They have two girls, though she's afflicted deeply by the death of her sons. Though separated from Gus by many miles and years, she still holds him fondly in her heart. In contrast, she's utter contempt for Call.
• Po Campo - Cook for the Hat Creek Cattle Company on their cattle drive. Picked up on the way during a stop in Austin (San Antonio in the miniseries). He is most notable for his use of "exotic" ingredients and his refusal to ride animals. Po had a wife that he, in his words, "sent to hell, where she belongs."
• Elmira Johnson - July's cold-hearted, pregnant wife. Shortly after July departs to track Jake Spoon, Elmira flees town in search of old flame Dee Boot. She finally gets to Ogallala just before Dee is hanged for murder. Along the way she travels on a whiskey boat, enlists a couple of buffalo hunters in her quest, and gives birth at Clara Allen's ranch then abandons her baby there. She and one of the buffalo hunters are killed by the Sioux shortly after leaving Ogallala.
• Peach Johnson - July Johnson's sister-in-law. She pressures July to bring Jake Spoon back for killing her husband.
• Bolivar - The cook for the Hat Creek Cattle Company. He is obsessed with ringing the dinner bell.
• Jimmy and Ben Rainey, Soupy Jones, Needle Nelson, Jasper Fant, Bert Borum, Lippy Jones, Hugh Auld, Sean and Allen O'Brien - Other hands hired by Call to work the cattle drive.

Allusions/references to actual history and current science

Awards and nominations