Druse is the protagonist of the story. He is characterized as a young Union supporter in contrast to his Successionist father. He has been brought up in a wealthy and comfortable home and so has been relatively sheltered from the vicissitudes of life. The story largely concerns his loss of innocence and emergence into a state of tragic knowledge.

Druse is remarkable for how inconsistently the narrator describes him rather than for the depth to which his character is developed. When the narrator first describes him asleep, he is described as a “criminal” (3) who would be executed for dereliction of duty if caught by his superiors. In sharing his backstory, the narrator reveals that he has been a successful and courageous soldier and is asleep only because of exhaustion. After Druse wakes, the narrator describes him in terms as positive as previously they had been negative: he is now a “courageous gentleman” and a “hardy soldier” (6). In the final scene, the superlatives—in either direction—have been stripped away. He is the “man” (9). He has been portrayed from different perspectives throughout the story, the first two reducing his character to over-simplified extremes (absolute criminal or absolute hero) and the last providing a less distorted view.