<P> After many eventual retreats, Cornwallis is besieged at Yorktown, Virginia where he surrenders to the surrounding Continental Army and the long - awaited French naval force . After the conflict ends, Benjamin returns with his family and discovers his militia men rebuilding his homestead in their new nation . </P> <Ul> <Li> Mel Gibson as Benjamin Martin A veteran of the French and Indian War as the hero of the fictional Fort Wilderness and widowed father of seven children, Benjamin does what he can to avoid fighting in the Revolutionary War knowing the implications surrounding it . In addition, he does not want to reveal to his family of what he is capable of in violence . When his oldest son, Gabriel joins up, and his second born son, Thomas is killed, he takes it upon himself to join and fight with the colonial militia . He is nicknamed "The Ghost" by the British . He is based on a composite of historical characters which include Thomas Sumter, Daniel Morgan, Nathanael Greene, Andrew Pickens, and Francis Marion . </Li> <Li> Heath Ledger as Gabriel Edward Martin Benjamin's eldest child, and the husband of Anne Patricia Howard Martin . He decides to join up with the Continental Army against his father's wishes . He is killed during an attack on the Green Dragoons' camp, while seeking revenge against Colonel Tavington for his wife's murder . </Li> <Li> Joely Richardson as Charlotte Selton Benjamin's sister - in - law and wife in the film . She is the owner of a plantation that is later burned down in the film . She looks after Benjamin's children while he is fighting, eventually she and Benjamin married and expecting a child . </Li> <Li> Gregory Smith as Thomas Martin Benjamin's second son, he, like Gabriel, is anxious to fight in the war, but Benjamin says he has to wait because of his age . He is shot and killed by Tavington when he protests against Gabriel's arrest . Tavington rebukes him as a "stupid boy" for his actions afterward . Benjamin takes Thomas's set of toy tin soldiers and, over the course of the film, melts them down into bullets for his pistol . </Li> <Li> Trevor Morgan as Nathan Martin Third son, he and Samuel help around the farm . When Gabriel is taken prisoner and Thomas is killed, he and Samuel help their father on a rescue mission . Unlike Samuel, he is "glad" to kill British soldiers . </Li> <Li> Bryan Chafin as Samuel Martin Fourth son, he is usually seen helping Nathan around the farm . When Gabriel is taken prisoner and Thomas is killed, he helps his father, Benjamin, rescue Gabriel by killing several British soldiers, even though he doesn't want to kill . For a short while, he becomes scared of his father after he witnesses him brutally killing and mutilating, post-mortem, a British soldier with a tomahawk . </Li> <Li> Logan Lerman as William Martin: Benjamin's fifth and youngest son . This character was not originally in the script and was only added because Mel Gibson wanted to have seven children in the film (like in real life) rather than six . Though present throughout the film, his only line is during the opening credits . </Li> <Li> Mika Boorem as Margaret Martin Benjamin's older daughter, she is often seen taking care of her younger siblings . </Li> <Li> Skye McCole Bartusiak as Susan Martin The younger daughter and child among Benjamin's seven children, she has a problem with speaking, which may be a post-traumatic reaction to the death of their mother; only later on does she finally open up . Her feelings towards her father change radically as the film progresses, and after Benjamin leaves from the furlough to rejoin his militia, in an extremely emotional scene, she seemingly forgives him and tells him she'll say anything he wants to make him stay, to which Benjamin can only promise to return, which Susan accepts . </Li> <Li> Jason Isaacs as Colonel William Tavington Colonel of the Green Dragoons, he is portrayed as a charismatic sociopath and a brutal commander . Long ago, his late father wasted away the family money, along with William's inheritance . He suggests to Cornwallis that he be allowed to acquire the Ohio territory as payment after the war since the brutality his commander wants from him sacrifices his social standing in English society . He is nicknamed "The Butcher" by Brigadier General O'Hara . The character is based on Banastre Tarleton . </Li> <Li> Chris Cooper as Colonel Harry Burwell One of Benjamin's commanding officers in the French and Indian War and a colonel of the Continental Army . He fought in the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill . When his wife gives birth to their firstborn son, they name him after Benjamin's late eldest son, Gabriel . His character is loosely based on Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee . </Li> <Li> Tchéky Karyo as Major Jean Villeneuve A French officer who trains Martin's militia, he holds a grudge against Martin for his part in the French and Indian War, but they become close friends by the war's end . He explains in the film that he watched his wife and two daughters, 12 - year - old Violette and 10 - year - old Pauline (both green - eyed), being burned in the ship that carried them by the British, which explains his hatred for them . He serves as Martin's second - in - command . </Li> <Li> René Auberjonois as Reverend Oliver A minister of Pembroke who volunteers to fight with the militia . He also tries to give spiritual advice to his fellow soldiers . He is one of the eighteen captured men taken to Fort Carolina and released later on by Benjamin . He aides Gabriel in killing Captain Bordon, but is mortally shot by Tavington . Before dying, he courageously tosses his musket to Gabriel so that he may finish off Tavington . </Li> <Li> Lisa Brenner as Anne Patricia Howard Martin Gabriel's childhood friend and love interest, whom he marries later in the film . She is killed in the town church along with the rest of the town on Tavington's orders . </Li> <Li> Tom Wilkinson as Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Earl Cornwallis A general of the British army . While pompous and arrogant, he is disgusted by Tavington's savage and ungentlemanly - like tactics . Cornwallis is a skilled commander, with Martin calling him a genius, but he sees militia as nothing more than "farmers with pitchforks" and is easily duped by Martin in a key scene . His two Great Danes, Jupiter and Mars, are a gift from king George III . </Li> <Li> Peter Woodward as Brigadier General Charles O'Hara Cornwallis' second - in - command . Like Cornwallis, he does not share Tavington's views on war . </Li> <Li> Donal Logue as Dan Scott One of Benjamin's men . He is a racist and bullies the former slave Occam, but grows to befriend him, especially when saved by him while wounded . In the last part of the film, they stand side by side in the final battle and the raising of Martin's new house . </Li> <Li> Leon Rippy as John Billings One of Benjamin's neighbors and oldest friends who joins the militia . He is one of the 18 captured men taken to Fort Carolina and released later on by Benjamin . Afterward, John helps Charlotte Selton and Benjamin's children escape the burning of the Selton plantation . He commits suicide, in full view of his comrades, after finding that Tavington's men have killed his wife and son . Afterward, Benjamin gives the militia a furlough . </Li> <Li> Adam Baldwin as Captain James Wilkins An officer in the Loyalist Colonial militia recruited into the Green Dragoons by Captain Bordon . He knows everything about Benjamin Martin, and is called upon by Tavington to divulge such information when required . Earlier on, at the South Carolina Assembly in Charleston, he is one of the twelve out of forty to vote against a levy for the Continental Army . He fights alongside Tavington, and also shares these brutal views on how "all those who stand against England deserve to die a traitor's death ." When he is forced to burn the church at Pembroke, with town residents inside by Tavington, only then does he regret his own words and realize what kind of man his commanding officer really is . He is last seen fighting alongside the British in the final battle of the movie . His fate is not shown . </Li> <Li> Jamieson K. Price as Captain Bordon Tavington's second - in - command of the Green Dragoons and chief intelligence officer . He is just as ruthless as his commander, "strong - arming" prisoners during interrogations . He is killed by Gabriel in the youth's raid against the Dragoons . </Li> <Li> Jay Arlen Jones as Occam An African slave who is sent to fight in his master's place . He is taunted and bullied by the other members of the militia, but is treated as an equal by Benjamin, Gabriel, Jean, and later on by Dan Scott and the others . He gives out information of the captured eighteen militia men at Fort Carolina while escaping Tavington's trap . After serving a year in the Continental Army, he becomes a free man, but nonetheless still serves with the militia until the end of the war, and later aids, alongside his former adversary Dan Scott, in raising a new house for Martin . (See also: African Americans in the Revolutionary War) </Li> <Li> Joey D. Vieira as Peter Howard Anne Howard's father, who lost his left leg and most of his hearing while fighting the French and Indian War . He likens British taxation policies to the British taking his other leg . </Li> <Li> Zach Hanner as British field officer . </Li> <Li> Terry Layman as General George Washington . </Li> <Li> Andy Stahl as General Nathanael Greene . </Li> <Li> Grahame Wood as a friendly British Lieutenant at Martin's farm who interacts with both Benjamin Martin and Colonel Tavington . He sees Tavington's orders to kill the Colonial wounded and other prisoners revolting, but remains silent and follows through with the orders without question, largely out of fear for his own life . He dies shortly afterwards in Martin's skirmish to rescue his son, Gabriel . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Mel Gibson as Benjamin Martin A veteran of the French and Indian War as the hero of the fictional Fort Wilderness and widowed father of seven children, Benjamin does what he can to avoid fighting in the Revolutionary War knowing the implications surrounding it . In addition, he does not want to reveal to his family of what he is capable of in violence . When his oldest son, Gabriel joins up, and his second born son, Thomas is killed, he takes it upon himself to join and fight with the colonial militia . He is nicknamed "The Ghost" by the British . He is based on a composite of historical characters which include Thomas Sumter, Daniel Morgan, Nathanael Greene, Andrew Pickens, and Francis Marion . </Li> <Li> Heath Ledger as Gabriel Edward Martin Benjamin's eldest child, and the husband of Anne Patricia Howard Martin . He decides to join up with the Continental Army against his father's wishes . He is killed during an attack on the Green Dragoons' camp, while seeking revenge against Colonel Tavington for his wife's murder . </Li>

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