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Thomas "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick

© Elizabeth Gibson

Thomas “Broken Hand” Fitzpatrick was born in 1799 in Ireland. Since his parents were fairly well off, he received a good education. At 17, he ran away to sea and became a sailor. A few years later, he jumped ship at New Orleans. He worked his way up the Mississippi to St. Louis.

Unemployed and 23 he saw an advertisement in the paper looking for 100 men to follow the Missouri River to its source. It did not say what the nature of the work was, but Fitzpatrick signed up anyway. Other famous men who answered the call were Jedediah Smith, Mike Fink, William Sublette, Jim Bridger, and Jim Clyman.

They soon found out what they were in for. The expedition was led by one William H. Ashley. His partner was Andrew Henry, who had trained in the fur trapping business under the great Manuel Lisa. Ashley would supply each man with traps and powder, food and supplies. Half of their catch went to Ashley. The other half of their catch they could keep as long as they sold it to Ashley.

In May 1822, Henry led Fitzpatrick and the other men up the Missouri River. At the junction of theYellowstone they built a stockade. They did some trapping that fall and did very well. They suffered through the cold winter, and in the spring they began trapping the headwaters of the Missouri.

In their eagerness to get the beaver, they had not been watching the Blackfoot very closely. But Fitzpatrick was the exception; he was always on the lookout for them. One day while out setting traps, he saw a movement in the rocks. He shot at it, even though he wasn’t shooting at anything in particular. The gunfire threw off the rhythm of the attack and alerted his men at the same time. His quick thinking saved all but four of his men.

Another Indian attack led the fur companies to ask for assistance from the army. General Henry Leavenworth at Fort Atkinson came out with 250 men. Unfortunately, Leavenworth had not been in a fight before and was hesitant in his moves. Fitzpatrick grew impatient over his lackluster performance. He gathered up ten trappers and snuck into the Indian camp at night and started shooting.

Even though there was only eleven of them, to the Indians it seemed like a whole army. They ran to and fro and fled the village. Fitzpatrick and the others helped themselves to the Indian ponies. Then they reported back to Leavenworth what they had done and how easy it had been. The stunt added to Fitzpatrick’s already growing legend.