Al's
Most Recent
Quote
of the day:
When
asked what surprised him most about humanity he said “Man, because
he sacrifices his health in order to make money. The he sacrifices
his money to recover his health. Then he is so anxious about the
future that he does not enjoy the present; the end result is that he
does not live in either the present nor the future; he lives as if he
is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
Dalai Lama
There
is a movie out titled “The Revenant”. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio
and the movie is loosely based on the life of Hugh Glass. Hugh as
one of the first of the mountain men/trappers to explore the western
United States. He as also one of the toughest men I have ever read
about. Revenant comes from the French word revenir
meaning
“return”. Here is the real story of what happened to Hugh Glass.
Biography
of Hugh Glass
In
about 1780 Hugh Glass was born in western Pennsylvania. His parents
were Scots-Irish immigrant from the Ulster plantation in northern
Ireland. Glass' life is uncertain until he joined the Ashley fur
gathering expedition in 1822. This group numbered about 100 and
included other famous frontiersmen like Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith,
James Beckwourth, William Sublette, Tom Fitzgerald among others. The
group was supposed to travel up the Missouri river very similar to
the route taken by the Lewis and Clark expedition and fur trade with
the native tribes they encountered. The group was unmercifully
attacked by the Arikara native Americans that lived and trapped near
the Missouri river in what is now Nebraska and the Dakotas. Hugh
Glass was wounded in the leg during one of these attacks. The wound
was probably not serious because after fighting off these attacks
Hugh and a few others decided to abandon the boats and head for the
Yellowstone river overland.
In
1823 the group was in western South Dakotas and Hugh was out hunting
for game to help feed them. He accidentally surprised a female
grizzly with 2 cubs and as you might suspect, the bear attacked.
Hugh was severely mauled especially his back when he curled up into
the fetal position and the bear broke his leg. He eventually was
able to fire his rifle at the bear and the others came running. They
also fired at the bear killing it. The leader William Ashley
determined that Hugh would not survive and asked for to volunteers to
stay with Hugh until he died and then bury him.
The
two that volunteered was Jim Bridger and Tom Fitzgerald. Not long
after the others had left, Bridger and Fitzgerald thought they
detected the approach of Arikara Indians and decided to take Hugh's
rifle, powder, shot, knives and flint and head catch up with the
group. Before they left they skinned the bear and covered Hugh with
the hide. Bridger and Fitzgerald reached the group and falsely told
Ashley that Hugh had died and they had buried him.
Hugh
had not died but his back was so ripped by the bear that his ribs
were showing. He set his own leg and Hugh knew that the closest
settlement was Fort Kiowa nearly 200 miles to the south. He started
out crawling and staggering southbound using a well known large mesa
on the horizon for navigation. His back began festering so bad that
wolves and other animals came to him because of the smell and began
licking the wounds because of the maggots that were there cleaning
out the dead flesh. Hugh allowed this because he knew he would die
of gangrene if he didn't.
He
eventually reached the Grand River north of Fort Kiowa and was able
to construct a small raft and began floating downstream. He survived
mostly on insects and roots. Eventually friendly Indians sewed a
bear hide over his back and gave him a rifle, powder, shot and flint.
On one occasion he was able to drive off a pair of wolves that has
just killed a bison calf. Being able to make this claim on fresh
meat probably saved his life because he fed on it for several days.
Six weeks later he arrived at Fort Kiowa and began recovery.
After
recovery he went on a mission to find Fitzgerald and Bridger with
revenge on his mind for leaving him without the necessities like his
rifle, flint, etc. After an extended search he found Bridger in a
camp at the mouth of the Bighorn River. He decided not to kill him
because he was only 19 years old. He headed out to find Fitzgerald
and was successful in finding that he had joined the army and was at
a fort in Nebraska. He eventually confronted Fitzgerald but did not
kill him after he gave him his rifle back. Another reason was if he
had killed a US soldier he would have been hunted down and killed
himself. Fitzgerald was about 25 years old.
In
the time between finding Bridger and Fitzgerald Hugh went on a fur
trading expedition with five others. They decided to travel by boat
and were on the Laramie river. They discovered a small Indian
village that had not been seen before and assumed it was a friendly.
They were wrong...it was an Arikara village and a chase began. Hugh
and the others hurried to the other side of the river but were
overtaken and three of their number were killed. Hugh was able to
hide and two others escaped but Hugh found his knife, shot, powder
and flint on one of those killed. Hugh traveled back to Fort Kiowa in
the company of a band of friendly Sioux.
In
the summer of 1833 Hugh went out on yet another fur trading
expedition. That winter Hugh and his group were attacked on the
banks of the Yellowstone river by a band of Arikara and Hugh was
killed.
Thus
ended the life of one of the toughest people I have ever read
about...he was 53 years old. There is a monument near Shadehill,
South Dakota that marks the spot where Hugh had the encounter with
the grizzly...and you think you have it bad.
This
Date in History January 14
1639
The first constitution written in the American colonies was signed
on this day in Hartford, Connecticut. The Connecticut River valley
had been discovered earlier by the Dutch in 1614 but it was the
Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony that moved in and
established the settlements of Harford, Wethersfield and Windsor.
They got together and came up with the “Fundamental Orders”.
This document was the first that fostered the concept that “it is
the welfare of the community that is more important than that of an
individual” and also the idea of the “Orders” must be approved
by those it governed. This document was superseded by another set of
“Orders” written in 1662. However, some of the laws written in
the original “Orders” were maintained until 1818.
Born
today:
1875
German physician Dr. Albert Schweitzer. He said “There are two
ways of refuge from the miseries of life...music and cats.”
1919
Italian Prime Minister Guilio Andreotti. He said “I understand
my limitations but when I look around me I see that I am not in a
land of giants.” Hey Guilio, quit looking around.
Died
today:
1957
US actor Humphrey Bogart. His alleged last words were “I should
have not switched from scotch to Martinis.” You are right Bogie,
Martinis are lethal.
Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until
tomorrow
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