Timeline

1817-1820
(circa)
Hugh Glass the Pirate

Glass, then a sailor, is reportedly captured by pirate Jean Lafitte and forced into piracy. Glass and a companion eventually escape near Galveston Bay.

Hugh Glass with Pawnee

Glass is allegedly captured by the Wolf Pawnee Indians probably in what is now Kansas. His companion is sacrificed by burning. Adopted into the Pawnee tribe, Glass lives with them.

1822
April-May
William Ashley’s First Expedition up the Missouri River

Ashley, Andrew Henry and 100 men leave St. Louis by keelboat for trapping and trading on the upper Missouri River. Jim Bridger is on the first boat commanded by Henry.  Ashley follows with a second boat.

1822
Summer
(circa)
Hugh Glass in St. Louis

Having left the Pawnee, Glass arrives in St. Louis in the summer or fall of 1822 after William Ashley has left.

1822
Fall
Fort Henry on the Yellowstone

By September, Andrew Henry arrives at the mouth of Yellowstone River and builds a fort. Jim Bridger is still with Henry.  William Ashley arrives on Oct 1st with supplies and returns immediately to St. Louis.  Jedediah Smith arrives with Ashley, but stays at the fort.­

1823
March 7
William Ashley’s Second Expedition up the Missouri River

Ashley’s second expedition leaves St. Louis in keelboats with Hugh Glass and John Fitzgerald as part of the crew.

1823
Early May
(circa)
Jedediah Smith returns Down River

Henry sends Smith down river with a message for William Ashley to bring horses and supplies.

1823
June 7
Arikara Battle

Fifteen Ashley men are killed at the Arikara villages including John S. Gardner.  Jedediah Smith and John Fitzgerald are at the battle.  Hugh Glass is wounded. Soon after the battle, Glass writes a letter and sends it via a St. Louis bound keelboat to Gardner’s parents to advise them of their son’s death.

 

Jedediah Smith Returns to Fort Henry

Shortly after the Arikara Battle, William Ashley sends Smith back up river to get Andrew Henry and his men.

1823
Early August
(circa)
Andrew Henry Joins William Ashley

After hearing from Jedediah Smith, Henry comes down river to join Ashley bringing most of his men including Smith and Jim Bridger.

1823
August 9-12
Arikara Siege

Led by Colonel Henry Leavenworth, the Sixth Infantry, Ashley/Henry trappers, Missouri Fur Company trappers, and Sioux Indians lay siege to the Arikara villages. The Arikara escape and their village is burned, by trappers. The Arikara move about 150 miles up the Missouri River to an abandoned village near the Mandan, except Gray Eye’s band of Arikara, now led by Elk’s Tounge, who head southwest to the Platte River.

1823
August 16
Andrew Henry’s Expedition

Andrew Henry leads a group of about 30 (including Hugh Glass, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger) up the Grand River on their way to Fort Henry at the mouth of Yellowstone River. William Ashley and Jedediah Smith return down river to Fort Kiowa.

1823
August 20
Mandan Indian Attack

Andrew Henry’s group is attacked by Mandan Indians on the Grand River. Two men are killed.

1823
August 23
(circa)
Hugh Glass Grizzly Attack

Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear and is eventually left for dead by two companions, John Fitzgerald and a youth, possibly Jim Bridger (Did Bridger Abandon Glass?), who hurry to catch up with Andrew Henry.

 

1823
September

Fort Henry on the Big Horn

Arriving at the mouth of Yellowstone River and finding Fort Henry harassed by Blackfeet.  Andrew Henry abandons the fort, moves to the Big Horn River at the mouth of the Little Big Horn River and constructs a new fort.  Jim Bridger and John Fitzgerald are now with Henry’s party.

1823
September 29
Jedediah Smith Expedition

William Ashley sends Jedediah Smith with 10 men west from Fort Kiowa to find new trapping grounds.  Their route is up the White River toward the Black Hills.

1823
October
(circa)
Hugh Glass at Fort Kiowa

After struggling as much as 300 miles, Glass arrives at Fort Kiowa no later than October 11.

1823
October
(circa)
Jedediah Smith Grizzly Attack

During October, probably as Hugh Glass is making it back to Fort Kiowa, Smith is also attacked and severely wounded by grizzly on the Cheyenne River.

1823
October 11
(circa)
Hugh Glass Heads Back Up The Missouri

Shortly after Glass arrives, chief trader Joseph “Kiowa” Brazeau sends a six man trading party from Fort Kiowa to the Mandan villages led by Antoine Citoleux (aka Langevin). Glass volunteers to be part of the group.

 

1823
November 15
(circa)

Arikara Attack Langevin

Langevin and his crew are attacked and killed by the Arikara near the Mandan villages. Hugh Glass left the group just before the attack and escapes to nearby Fort Tilton about mid-November.

 

John Fitzgerald Leaves Fort Henry

As Hugh Glass narrowly escapes the Arikara attack, Moses Harris leads a party, including Fitzgerald, down river from Fort Henry on the Big Horn to Fort Atkinson and will pass by Fort Tilton.

1823
November 20
(circa)
Hugh Glass Leaves Fort Tilton

Glass leaves Fort Tilton shortly after arriving and heads up the Missouri river by himself toward Fort Henry.

 

John Fitzgerald Arrives at Fort Tilton

Coming down the Missouri River, Moses Harris and Fitzgerald arrive at Fort Tilton just days after Hugh Glass had left going up river.  Fitzgerald may have heard from Fort Tilton traders that Glass is alive.

1823
December 5
(circa)
Hugh Glass Arrives at Fort Henry on the Yellowstone

Glass arrives at the abandoned Fort Henry at the mouth of Yellowstone River and continues toward the new Fort Henry on the Big Horn.

1823
December 20
John Fitzgerald arrives at Fort Atkinson

Moses Harris’ party, with Fitzgerald, arrives at Fort Atkinson, the army post at Council Bluffs.

1824
January 1
(circa)
Hugh Glass arrives at Fort Henry on the Big Horn

Glass arrives at the new Fort Henry at the forks of the Big Horn River. He confronts and forgives Jim Bridger.

1824
February 29
Hugh Glass leaves Fort Henry

A party of five including Glass depart Fort Henry carrying a message for Ashley.  Their route is up the Powder River, across to the Platte River, and down Platte in a bull boat to find William Ashley at Fort Atkinson or St. Louis.

1824
March
Jedediah Smith Finds the Green River Valley

After spending the winter with Crow Indians on the Wind River, Smith and his crew cross South Pass and find abundant beaver and no hostile Indians in the Green River Valley.

1824
April
(circa)
Arikara attack on the Platte

Hugh Glass’s party encounter Elk’s Tongue’s band of Arikara camped on the Platte River probably near the Laramie River. Two of the trappers are killed and three escape including Glass who is, once again, on his own.

1824
April 19
John Fitzgerald Enlists in the Army

On April 19, at Fort Atkinson, Fitzgerald enlists in the army for 5 years.

1824
June
(circa)
Hugh Glass arrives at Fort Kiowa

After a cross-country trip alone on foot, Glass arrives back at Fort Kiowa and two weeks later arrives at Fort Atkinson still carrying the message for Ashley. At Fort Atkinson, he confronts John Fitzgerald and gets his gun back, but does not harm him probably because Fitzgerald is enlisted in the Army.

1824
Summer
(circa)
Hugh Glass on the Santa Fe Trail

Sometime after arriving in St. Louis, Glass joins a trading and trapping party to Santa Fe.

1824
Fall
Andrew Henry leaves the Fur Trade

In the fall of 1824, Henry returns to St. Louis, dissolves his partnership with William Ashley and retires from the fur trade.

1825 Hugh Glass in Taos

Glass is in Taos in early 1825.

1825
July 1
Henry’s Fork Rendezvous

After hearing of Jedediah Smith’s success in the Green River Valley from Thomas Fitzpatrick in the fall of 1824, William Ashley brings supplies and holds the first of sixteen annual rendezvous on July 1st, 1825 at Henry’s Fork of the Green River. Ashley, Smith, and Jim Bridger are all present, but Hugh Glass is not.

1825-1826 Hugh Glass in Utah Country

Based out of Santa Fe or Taos, Glass leads a trapping and trading party to Utah country.  He is wounded with an arrow in back in a skirmish with Indians (maybe Shoshone).

1826
June
Cache Valley Rendezvous

The second annual rendezvous is held in Cache (or Willow) Valley in June of 1826.  Hugh Glass is not present.

1827
June-July
Bear Lake Rendezvous

Hugh Glass probably attends the 1827 summer rendezvous held at the south end of Bear Lake.

1828
July
Bear Lake Rendezvous

Hugh Glass does attend the 1828 summer rendezvous held again at Bear Lake.

1828 Fort Union built on the Yellowstone

The American Fur Company builds Fort Floyd, better known as Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone River within a couple miles of the abandoned Fort Henry.

1828 – 1832

 

Hugh Glass at Fort Union

In the fall of 1828, perhaps dissatisfied with trade at the rendezvous, Glass negotiates a trade deal with Kenneth McKenzie at the new Fort Union and probably traps on the Upper Missouri for the next 4 years.

1832
Fall
Fort Cass Built on Big Horn

Fort Cass (or Fort Tulloch) is built by the American Fur Company at the confluence of the Yellowstone River and Big Horn River in the fall of 1832, just 30 miles downriver from the abandoned Fort Henry.

1832-1833
Winter
Hugh Glass Killed by Arikara

In early spring 1833, Hugh Glass, Edward Rose, and Hilain Menard were killed by Arikara near Fort Cass.

Continue to Map…

Sources:

Myers, John Myers. Pirate, Pawnee and Mountain Man: The Saga of Hugh Glass. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1963.

Haines, Aubrey L. “Hugh Glass” in The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West. Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1965-72. Ten volumes edited by Leroy R. Hafen. Volume VI, pp 161-171.

Gowans, Fred R. Rocky Mountain Rendezvous. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1976.

Morgan, Dale L. editor.  The West of William H. Ashley. Denver, Colorado: Old West Publishing Company, 1964.