Hugh Glass, American frontiersman and fur trapper is best known for his survival after having been left for dead when he had been mauled by a grizzly bear along the Grand River in northern South Dakota.  He survived the attack and traveled alone for more than two hundred miles to safety.  Much of it was done by crawling on his elbows and one knee.

In March of 1823 he had joined the fur trading expedition of William Ashley and Andrew Henry which departed from St. Louis to explore the watershed of the Upper Missouri River, in what is now the Dakotas and Montana.  Several months later he was shot in the leg along the river just below the North Dakota border.  Several members of their party were killed.  The survivors retreated downstream where they buried the dead.

Ashley and Henry then determined that the Missouri River was no longer, because of safety reasons, a viable route to the Rockies. The cost in lives, time, and finances caused by the upper river Indian tribes had become too great. To avoid further conflicts with the tribes along the Missouri, the partners decided to equip two groups of trappers and send them overland to the Rocky Mountains.

Jedediah Smith led a group along the White and Cheyenne rivers while another group led by Henry made a fast northwesterly trip to Fort Henry at the mouth of the Yellowstone River in Montana.  Their party of about twenty men traveled by foot, leading pack animals.

Glass and Henry, along with their colleagues returned to the Grand River near present-day Mobridge.  This small group, led by Henry, started overland toward the Yellowstone River in central Montana.  It is not known if Glass volunteered for the Henry party or was recruited.  Regardless, he was now on a collision course with a grizzly bear and fame.

In late August or early September, Henry and his crew were below the fork of the Grand River in northern South Dakota.  Glass, a hunter was some distance ahead of the group searching for game along the brushy river bottom scouting for game.  He came upon a grizzly bear and her two cubs that had been sleeping in the thick and tangled brush.

She rushed toward him with such fleetness and ferociousness that escape was impossible.  She overtook him and mangled him so terribly that it appeared to the members of the expedition that he had been killed.  Glass tried to escape her attack, but the bear, followed by her cubs, pounced upon him again.

She collared him by the shoulder and inflicted dangerous wounds to his hands and arms.  She seized him by the throat and lifted him high above her head.  His body was severely bitten and slashed, severely wounded, and thrown to the ground.  A large chunk of flesh was torn from his body and she threw it to her nearby cubs.

Henry and the remainder of the expedition had heard Glass’ screams for help and they quickly ran upstream.  Several of them made their way to Glass who was frantically stabbing the bear in the stomach with his knife.  They were able to assist in killing her.  Some of his colleagues were excellent marksmen and fortunately their bullets missed Glass and hit the bear in the vital areas.

Although he was still alive, the condition of Glass seemed hopeless.  His entire body had been mutilated and he was unable to stand.  His pain was excruciating.  No one had been trained in medical procedures.  There was no surgical aid available, it was impossible to move him, and they were over two-hundred miles from the nearest fort.

Henry realized that they were in hostile and dangerous country.  Staying in the area could bring disaster to all, yet it was repugnant to the feelings of the men that Glass be left alone.  Henry decided to offer eighty dollars to two men that would remain with Glass until he should expire, or until he could be moved to the closest trading post.

These two fellows who remained with Glass for five days were not loyal and devoted colleagues.  During that time they had determined that his recovery was hopeless and they saw no prospects of his immediate death.  Concerned about their own safety, they cruelly abandoned him, taking with them his rifle and all his personal belongings.  He was left without any means of defense, subsistence, or shelter.

His only visible motions were breathing and eye movement.  They wrapped him in a bear hide and placed him in a shallow grave located near a flowing stream.  After finally overtaking the remainder of their party which had left earlier, they reported that Glass had died of his wounds and that he had been buried in the best possible manner.

But Glass was not dead!  He had survived the attack by the mother bear and the partial burial by his friends who had been paid $80 ($2,203 today) to properly care for him.  When he realized the betrayal of his companions, far from giving up, he was determined to live and make those who deserted him account for their actions.

With a broken leg, fever and infection which frequently rendered him unconscious, it took Glass two months to crawl to the Cheyenne River.  There he built a raft and allowed the current to carry him downstream to the Missouri and on to Ft. Kiowa below Big Bend.  Although driven by revenge, he spared the life of the two deserters.  He was later killed on the Yellowstone River in 1833.

 

Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on June 8, 2022