Hollywood and Hugh Glass

By: Peggy L Henderson

I posted the story of Hugh Glass about a year ago, but I thought I'd repost it again, because there has been so much hype over the movie, The Revenant that was just released this month, which is based on the famous mountain man. Since mountain men are what I primarily write about, I was looking forward to the movie with great anticipation. It has won numerous awards already, and is up for many Academy Awards. 
From a Hollywood standpoint, the movie was all it promised to be - the story of a man struggling for survival while bent on revenge, and some really wonderful cinematography. Sadly, it fell short on historical accuracy (as is most often the case with Hollywood movies) as well as with survival accuracy. 
It is a rather gory movie - it is hyped as being "realistic", and in that regard, it is very realistic. However, here is where I had some problems with the movie: Hugh Glass did not set out on a journey of revenge for the death of his son (whether he had an Indian wife and son is up for debate). The more I read about him, the more it came to light that he wasn't even seeking revenge against the men who left him for dead (as I have written in this post originally - I decided to leave it and didn't change it). All he wanted was his rifle back from Fitzpatrick, who took it from him when he left him to die. 
For dramatic effect, Hollywood decided to kill off several historical figures long before their time in this movie. 
The survival scenes weren't all that accurate, either. The movie took place mostly in the winter, and I can speak from experience that it's not as easy to start a fire when it's cold and wet out as they make it seem in this movie. 
Hugh Glass in the movie survived the bear attack just like the real Hugh Glass, but for as many times as he found himself in a frigid river, he should have died of hypothermia several times over. I guess the movie makers were trying to stay true to the theme of "revenant." The final straw for me was when he gutted a horse, and slipped inside the animal's cavity in order to stay warm for the night. That scene came right out of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and was very out of place. I didn't see the need for him to strip out of his clothes and seek shelter inside a dead animal (a survival strategy, for sure, but very much out of place in this particular scene - the horse had just gone over a cliff with him on it. How he survived that fall is anyone's guess.) 
I'm glad I went to see the movie, but I left feeling rather disappointed. I was hoping that it wouldn't be based quite so loosely on what really happened. Here's a little of the true story of Hugh Glass:

The story of Hugh Glass has to be one of the most amazing stories of survival in the history of the west. The man practically became a legend in his own time.

    He’d led a life as a pirate before he decided to become a fur trapper in the early 1820’s at the age of 40. He signed on with William Ashley and Andrew Henry, who led an expeditions up the Missouri River in 1823. When they reached the Grand River near today’s Mobridge, South Dakota, they left their boats to head toward the Yellowstone on land. 

During this journey, in which many of Ashley’s men were killed by Arikara Indians, Hugh Glass surprised a grizzly sow and her two cubs. He was away from the rest of his party at the time, and the grizzly attacked him before he was able to shoot his rifle. He fought the bear with his bare hands (no pun intended) and a knife, and nearly killed it, but he was badly mauled during the fight. 

His companions heard his screams and came running. They found a bloody and badly maimed Glass. He was barely alive, with the grizzly lying on top of him. They killed the bear and pulled Hugh’s body from underneath her. 

Everyone knew that there was no hope for their friend. They bandaged him as best as they could, and waited for him to die. The danger of Indians discovering them was a constant fear, and Hugh’s moans and cries of pain would certainly give them away. William Henry decided their group needed to move on. It wasn’t worth risking their lives for one dying man. He asked for a couple of volunteers to stay behind and bury Glass properly once he died.

 John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger agreed and immediately began digging the grave. They waited. Three days later, Glass was still alive. Fearful of Indians, Fitzgerald persuaded Bridger that they should leave and follow their comrades to the Yellowstone. 

Fitzgerald picked up Glass's rifle, knife and other equipment and dumped him into the open grave. They threw a bearskin over him and shoveled in a thin layer of dirt and leaves, leaving Glass for dead. 

    But Glass did not die. It’s not known how much time passed, but he regained consciousness. He was alone and without weapons in hostile Indian territory. He had a broken leg and his wounds were festering. His scalp was almost torn away and the flesh on his back had been ripped away so that his rib bones were exposed. The nearest help was 200 miles away at Ft. Kiowa. His only protection was the bearskin hide.

    Glass set his own broken leg and began crawling toward the Cheyenne River about 100 miles away. Feverish and fighting infection, he was often unconscious. It is said that he used maggots to eat away his infected flesh. Then, according to legend (or tall tale at this point, take your pick) he woke up to find a grizzly licking his maggot-infested wounds which could very well have saved him from further infection. 

Glass survived mostly on wild berries and roots. On one occasion he was able to drive two wolves from a downed bison calf and eat the raw meat.

    It took Glass two months to crawl to the Cheyenne River, where he built a raft which carried him downstream to Ft. Kiowa on the Missouri.

    After he was nursed back to health over many months, Glass set out to find the two men who had left him for dead. He found Bridger at a fur trading post on the Yellowstone River but didn't kill him because Bridger was only 19 years old, and just following Fitzgerald’s orders. Glass later found Fitzgerald but changed his mind about killing him because Fitzgerald had joined the Army. 

    Glass eventually returned to the Upper Missouri where he died in 1833 in a battle with hostile Arikaras Indians.

    Besides The Revenant, the story of Hugh Glass has been made into a movie before in  "A Man in the Wilderness" in 1971 staring Richard Harris and John Huston.  A novel, "Lord Grizzly" also recounts the story. 

Peggy L Henderson

Western Historical and Time Travel Romance

“Where Adventure Awaits and Love is Timeless”

Award-Winning Author of:

Yellowstone Romance Series

Teton Romance Trilogy

Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series

Blemished Brides Western Historical Romance Series

               

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