Hugh Glass, Mountain Man (Part 1)© Elizabeth Gibson
Sep 30, 2003
Very little is known of the early life of Hugh Glass. It is thought he was born in Pennsylvania in the 1780s. Somehow around 1817, Glass was captured by Jean Lafitte's pirates operating out of Galveston, Texas. He was forced into service as a ship's captain. He and a friend escaped a year later. They had to swim across two miles to the mainland. They had very little in the way of
possessions, beyond what they wore.
They headed west on foot through grassy plains. They had no guns, so they had to use a rudimentary bow and arrow and stones to kill game. They also had to dodge the Karankawas and
the Tonkawas, who were known to be cannibalistic tribes. Finally they were captured by a band of Pawnee in western Kansas. These weren't much better as they often burned victims as human sacrifice to the gods. They burned Hugh's friend using pine pitch as an accelerant. It was soon to
be Hugh's turn, when he remembered a pouch of cinnabar that he had salvaged from the ship. On
impulse he offered it to the chief as a gift. Cinnabar was highly prized as a die for red war paint. The chief took it as a good omen from the spirits. He spared Hugh's life and in fact adopted him as a son. He lived as an Indian for several years. He learned how to survive in the wilderness using only basic tools. Finally in 1822, fur traders with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company came in contact with the Pawnee. He was able to leave the tribe with them. He turned with the trappers to St. Louis. He didn't know what to do with himself until he saw an ad for hunters on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. He left on a keelboat with about 100 other men on March 7, 1823. The first part of the trip was uneventful. Upriver, though, the trappers were attached by Arikaras (Rees). Just the previous day, the white men had traded them gunpowder for some horses. Unfortunately, the Arikaras had had an ongoing grudge with another fur company. One group was as good as another for attacking, as far as the Indians were concerned. A battle ensued, which resulted in the injury or death of a dozen trappers, including Glass. An equal number of boatmen were also killed or wounded. Ashley, the leader of the expedition, sought revenge. His partner Andrew Henry didn't want the
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