Hugh Glass
Hugh Glass (born c. 1800) was an early fur trapper and frontiersman in the American West, noted for his explorations of the Missouri River watershed in present day South Dakota and Montana, and for his legendary survival from the attack of grizzly bear.
Biography
Ashley's expedition
Little is known about his early life. He was probably born in Ireland. In the spring of 1822, Glass responded to advertisement in the Missouri Gazette and Public Adviser placed by William Ashley that called for a core of 100 men to "ascend the river Missouri" as part of a fur trading enterprise. Besides Glass, others who responded to the advertisement included Jim Beckwourth, Tom Fitzpatric, David Jackson, John Fitzgerald, William Sublette, Jim Bridger, and Jedediah Smith.
The wrestle
The expedition under Andrew Henry was to proceed up from the Missouri up the valley of the Grand River in present-day South Dakota and then cross over to the valley of the Yellowstone. Early in the expedition, Glass established himself as a hard-working fur trapper. In August 1823, while scouting for game apart from the rest of the party near the forks of the Grand River in present-day Perkins County, Glass was surprised by a she-grizzly with two cubs. Before he could fire his rifle, he was picked up by the bear and thrown to the ground, grappling with the bear with his knife. While the bear raked him repeatedly with her claws, he fought back with repeated stabbings. Eventually the bear died, but Glass was left badly mauled and unable to walk.
His companions heard his screams but did not arrive until after the attack. Bridger (then only 19 years old) and Fitzgerald volunteered to stay behind to look after him, but after they became convinced they would not survive. They began digging his grave, but were attacked by hostile Arikaree Indians. Unable to finish the grave, they took his rifle, knife, and other equipment and abandoned him for dead. Bridger and Fitzgerald later reported to Henry that Glass had died from his mauling.
The odyssey to Fort Kiowa
Glass, however, regained consciousness to find himself abandoned without equipment, and with a broken leg, exposed rib flesh, and festering wounds, over 200 mi (320 km) away from the nearest settlement at Fort Kiowa on the Missouri. He set his own broken leg, wrapped himself in the bear hide his companions had placed over him, and fashioned a crude sled for it that allowed him to drag it while crawling. Unable to follow the Grand because of hostile Native Americans, he decided to crawl overland south to the Cheyenne River. It took him months to reach the Cheyenne, survivivng on wild berries, roots, and from bison meat after driving two wolves from a downed calf. After reaching the Cheyenne, he fashioned a crude raft and floated down the river, aided by friendly Native Americans, and eventually reached the safety of Fort Kiowa.
The aftermath
After a long recuperation, Glass decided to track down and kill Bridger and Fitzgerald for their betrayal. When Glass eventually found Bridger on the Yellowstone near mouth of the Bighorn River, he decided to forgive him because of his youth. He later found Fitzgerald, but discovered he had joined the United States Army, and thus decided not to kill him because of the consequences of killing a soldier.
Later years
Glass later returned to the frontier as a mountain man. He later became employed as a hunter providing food for the garrison at Fort Union. He was killed in the winter of 1833 on the Yellowstone River in an attack by hostile Arikarees.
Glass' survival and odyssey have been recounted in numerous books, including the novel Lord Grizzly. 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.