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Captain Wilton Parmenter (portrayed by Ken Berry) is the so-called "Scourge of the West." As military governor of the territory and commander of Fort Courage, he is credited with keeping peace. Parmenter is well-meaning and sweet-natured, although essentially clueless and a bit gullible. He also invariably is kind and encouraging to his men, and always bravely leads them into action, albeit ineptly. Parmenter, born in Philadelphia, comes from a "proud family" with a history of serving in the military.
Sergeant Morgan Sylvester O'Rourke (portrayed by Forrest Tucker) is originally from Steubenville, Ohio, and has been in the Army at least 25 years. O'Rourke's business dealings involve illegally running the local town saloon and an exclusive-rights treaty with the Hekawi to sell souvenirs to tourists. Though most of his business schemes fail, he apparently is the only competent soldier in F Troop. O'Rourke is stated to be a veteran of the Mexican–American War.
Corporal Randolph Agarn (portrayed by Larry Storch) is O'Rourke's somewhat dimwitted sidekick and business partner in the shady O'Rourke Enterprises. Agarn, originally from Passaic, New Jersey, took six years after enlistment to become a lowly corporal. At the time of the series, Agarn has been in the cavalry for 10 years, and has been posted to Fort Courage for four years.
Bugler Private Hannibal Shirley Dobbs (portrayed by James Hampton) is F Troop's inept bugler, originally from New Orleans, who can only play "Yankee Doodle" and "Dixie" with regularity. A southern "mama's boy", he is also Captain Parmenter's orderly, as well as serving in the fort's cannon crew—usually with disastrous results. Private Dobbs is a personal thorn in Agarn's side, with his regular taunts resulting in Agarn's frequent retort, "I'm warning you, Dobbs!", even threatening him with a court-martial.
Trooper Vanderbilt (portrayed by Joe Brooks) is the fort's lookout, who seems all but blind even with glasses (20/900 in each eye, according to Agarn) and answers questions from the lookout tower about what he sees with incongruous responses. In one episode, he shoots his pistol in a crowded barracks—and manages to miss everyone. Vanderbilt was a bustle inspector in a dress factory before joining the Army.
Trooper Duffy (portrayed by Bob Steele) is an aged, old-time cavalryman with a limp. He claims to be the lone survivor of the siege of the Alamo in 1836, and enjoys recounting his exploits with Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, "shoulder to shoulder and backs to the wall" roughly 30 years before joining F Troop. However, no one ever seems to take his claim seriously, and he may be engaged in telling tall tales.
"Wrangler" Jane Angelica Thrift (portrayed by Melody Patterson) is Captain Wilton Parmenter's beautiful but tomboyish, feisty, romantically aggressive Annie Oakley-like girlfriend, dressed in buckskins and a cowgirl hat. She owns Wrangler Jane's Trading Post and runs the U.S. post office in town. She is a telegrapher and the best sharpshooter in the territory. Whenever the fort is attacked, she fights alongside everyone else, usually shooting more Indians than everyone else. She is determined to marry the ever-romantically elusive and naïve Parmenter and is often obliged to rescue him from his various predicaments.
The Hekawi are a small Native American tribe who live an indeterminate distance from Fort Courage. In "Reunion for O'Rourke", Chief Wild Eagle explains how the tribe got its name: "Many moons ago, tribe leave Massachusetts because Pilgrims ruin neighborhood! Tribe travel west, over stream, over river, over mountain, over mountain, over river, over stream! Then come big day... tribe fall over cliff. That when Hekawi get name. Medicine man say to my ancestor, "I think we lost. Where the heck are we?". "Where the heck are we?" became "We're the Hekawi" (the original name for the tribe in the series, 'Fugawi', was changed after the censors discovered the sentence "Where the Fugawi?").
The Hekawis are often 50/50 partners with O'Rourke Enterprises. They make most of the company's products, usually in the form of Indian souvenirs and whiskey. They are peaceful (mainly due to cowardice) and are self-described as "the tribe that invented the peace pipe", "lovers, not fighters", and "proud descendants of cowards".
Chief Wild Eagle (portrayed by Frank de Kova) is the shrewd, cranky, but essentially good-natured leader of the Hekawi tribe, and business partner in O'Rourke Enterprises. Like all the Indian characters portrayed in F Troop, he speaks with a mock American Indian accent in a semibroken English dialect stereotypical of American Westerns.
Crazy Cat (portrayed by Don Diamond) is Chief Wild Eagle's assistant and heir apparent. He often speculates on when he will become chief, but is subsequently rebuked by Chief Wild Eagle. Appearing sporadically in the early first-season episodes, Crazy Catbecame a regularly featured character later in the first season, as Roaring Chicken and Medicine Man were phased out of the series.
