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Hugh Glass:
The Mountain Men respected anyone with strength, speed, wilderness savvy, the ability to survive, however, they also had a great deal of
respect for anyone with good luck. Hugh
Glass was one man who seemed to have exceptionally good luck.
It is not known what Hugh Glass was before he appeared in the Rocky
Mountains as a fur trader. According to his own story he was a seafarer,
who was captured and escaped from pirates in the Gulf of Mexico. In
1823, he joined with Ashley and Henry’s second fur brigade to the upper
Missouri River country. As part of Andrew Henry’s party, Glass and
Moses
“Black” Harris were out hunting for meat when they startled a sow
grizzly bear with two yearling cubs. Although the two mountain men
were able to handle the grizzlies, Glass was severely injured in the
attack, receiving deep lacerations and puncture wounds to his scalp, face,
chest, back, shoulder, arm, hand and thigh.
With each gasp, blood bubbled from a puncture wound in his throat.
When his comrades pulled the body of the dead sow off of him,
Daniel Potts remarked that Hugh Glass had been “tore nearly to peases”.
Glass, clearly, was going to die, if not within minutes, within a
couple of hours. The next
morning Glass had still not expired. Henry’s
party was at that time passing through dangerous Indian country. The Arikara
Indians, having been recently evicted from their village by an alliance of
mountain men, Sioux warriors and the U.S. Army, were seeking vengeance on
anyone they could find. Major
Henry couldn't jeopardize the safety of the entire party for one man, who was certain to die
anyway. His comrades
attempted to carry Glass on a litter, but after several days of difficult
and slow progress Hugh Glass was still alive and the party still remained
vulnerable to attack by Arikara Indians. So Henry sought two
volunteers, with an incentive of six months pay, to remain behind with
Glass until he should die. Jim
Bridger, at only 17 and on his first trip to the mountains, and a man
named John Fitzgerald volunteered. Finally after a week, Hugh Glass
was still alive, but showing no sign of improvement.
With fresh sign of Arikara in the area, Bridger and Fitzgerald lost
their nerve. They packed and left, taking Glass's gun and gear.
When they rejoined Henry’s party, they reported that Glass had
died, and was buried Glass, however, did not die. Sometime after he was abandoned, Glass came out of his coma, so weak he could only crawl. Then began Hugh Glass's six-week ordeal of strength, determination, luck and fortitude as he dragged himself back to Fort Kiowa, a trading post almost 200 miles away. He lived on the meat of dead animals and rattlesnakes. He slowly gained his strength so that he could walk upright. Most of his mind was focused on seeking vengeance from the two men who had left him to die. After a period of
recuperation at Fort Kiowa, Glass, now re-equipped returned to the
mountains intent on revenge. One
evening, Hugh Glass showed up in Henry’s encampment, stunning his former
comrades, who at this time all knew for a fact that Glass had been long dead.
Jim Bridger was there, and Glass confronted him, only to forswear
his vengeance on Bridger because of the boy's youth and inexperience.
Fitzgerald, who had by now left Henry’s party and the mountains
would enjoy no such exemption. In February of
1824, Henry decided to send a “winter express” down to Ashley
informing him progress in the mountains, and of prospects for the future.
Five men went down, including Hugh Glass, who had some unfinished
matters with Fitzgerald to attend to.
In order to avoid Arikara Indians, they traveled by land to the
North Platte River, where they built a bull-boat to continue their journey
by water. While traveling down
the river, they were invited to camp with a group of Indians representing
themselves as Pawnee. Too late
the mountain men discovered the Indians to be Arikara.
In their flight, two mountain men were killed, two fled down the
Platte River, while Hugh Glass hid in a rocky area as the Indians
searched. On their arrival in
St Louis, the two who had fled down the river, reported that Hugh
Glass had been killed in the confrontation. After this, Glass
returned to the mountains and the fur trade.
By 1828, the soaring cost of supplies and trade goods in the
mountains, “mountain prices”, had so rankled the free trappers, that
they sent a delegation down to St Louis to invite a rival outfit to
rendezvous to provide price competition.
Hugh Glass was that messenger. The
company he approached was the Western Department of the American Fur
Company, John Jacob Astor’s company.
In early 1833 the
luck of Hugh Glass ran out. He,
Edward Rose, and another man were taking a message to Fort Union.
As they crossed the frozen Yellowstone River, below the fort,
thirty Arikara warriors charged down on them.
All three of the trappers were shot and killed. For more
information regarding Hugh Glass see:
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