Hugh Glass

Trapper and frontier legend, birthplace unknown. He first appeared when he joined William Henry Ashley's second Missouri R expedition (1823). Attacked and wounded by a grizzly bear, he was abandoned by his companions, Jim Bridger and a man named Fitzgerald. He recovered and crawled over 100 mi to Fort Kiowa. He caught up with his former companions and lectured them soundly, but after recovering his rifle from Fitzgerald he declared the account closed. He continued on trapping expeditions and was renowned for his skills and eccentricities. He was killed by Blackfeet Indians.

A sailor, a reluctant pirate, an honorary Pawnee, and an explorer of the watershed of the Upper Missouri River in present day South Dakota and Montana, Glass was famed most of all for his legendary cross-country trek after being mauled by a grizzly bear.

==Biography== A total BEAST who was left for dead, came back and taught Fitzgerald a lesson

General Ashley's Expedition

Little is known about Glass's early life.

Besides Glass, others who joined the enterprise included notables such as Jim Beckwourth, Tom Fitzpatric, David Jackson, John Fitzgerald, William Sublette, Jim Bridger, and Jedediah Smith.

The expedition, led by Andrew Henry, planned to proceed from the Missouri, up the valley of the Grand River in present-day South Dakota, then across to the valley of the Yellowstone. Early on during the trek, Glass established himself as a hard-working fur trapper.

The Wrestle

Near the forks of the Grand River in present-day Perkins County, while scouting alone for game to add to the expedition's larder, Glass surprised a she-grizzly with two cubs.

Glass managed to kill the bear with help from his trapping partners,Fitzgerald and Bridger. When Glass lost consciousness, Henry became convinced the man would not survive his injuries.

Henry asked for two volunteers to stay with Glass until he died, and then bury him. Later claiming that they were interrupted in the task by an attack by Arikaree Indians, the pair grabbed Glass's rifle, knife, and other equipment, and took flight.

Bridger and Fitzgerald reported to Henry -- wrongly it turned out -- that Glass had died.

The Odyssey to Fort Kiowa

Instead, despite his injuries, Glass regained consciousness.

In one of the more remarkable treks known to history, Glass set his own leg, wrapped himself in the bear hide his companions had placed over him as a shroud, and began crawling.

Deciding that following the Grand would be too dangerous because of "hostiles" (aggressive natives), Glass crawled overland south toward the Cheyenne River.

Glass survived mostly on wild berries and roots.

The aftermath

After a long recuperation, Glass set out to track down and avenge himself against Bridger and Fitzgerald. When he found Bridger, on the Yellowstone near mouth of the Bighorn River, Glass spared him, purportedly because of Bridger's youth. When he found Fitzgerald, and discovered that Fitzgerald had joined the United States Army, Glass purportedly restrained himself because the consequence of killing a U.S. soldier was death.

Later years

Glass would return to the frontier as a mountain man. A monument to Glass now stands near the site of his mauling on the southern shore of Shadehill Reservoir on the forks of the Grand River. (1954) ISBN 0-8032-8118-8 Saga of Hugh Glass: Pirate, Pawnee and Mountain Man, John Myers Myers (1976) ISBN 0-8032-5834-8 "The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge," Michael Punke (2002) ISBN 0-7867-1027-6 "Wilderness", Roger Zelazny and Gerald Hausman (1994) ISBN 0-312-85654-7 "Hugh Glass, Mountain Man" Robert M.