Hugh Glass was the protagonist in the movie “The Revenant”, but how much of his story was true. In 1822, Gen. William Ashley created the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to raise money for a political career. He hired 100 fur trappers, including Hugh. “Ashley’s Hundred” worked the area of Wyoming and Utah. They pretty much depleted the beaver population in the region. Hugh was partnered with John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger. One day Hugh encountered a mother grizzly and her cubs. The protective mother attacked Hugh and before Fitzgerald and Bridger could return to help finish off the bear, Hugh had a broken leg and cuts all over his back and ribs. His partners stayed with him as they waited for him to die. In the middle of digging his grave, they were attacked by hostile Arikara Indians. The duo ran away, figuring Glass was doomed anyway. But Hugh refused to die, partly because he was obsessed with revenge on his comrades. He started his 200-mile trek to Fort Kiowa in terrible shape with the biggest danger being infection from his untreated wounds. He kept gangrene at bay by laying on rotting logs so the maggots could eat his dead skin. He got help from friendly Indians and when he reached the Cheyenne River six weeks later, he built a raft and floated to Fort Kiowa. When he found Bridger, he relented and forgave the young man who was only 19. He tracked down Fitzgerald, but when he learned that he was in the Army, Glass decided the punishment for killing Fitzgerald would be too steep to risk. Glass returned to fur trapping and was killed in 1933 by Arikaras.
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