Being attacked by a grizzly bear, left for dead by comrades and then crawling for miles over the prairie while eating snakes and bugs is only one of many stories associated with legendary mountain man Hugh Glass.
Others tell how he was captured and forced into servitude by French pirates, spared by Pawnee Indians who had plans to burn him at the stake, and survived numerous other near-death experiences.
Historians have debated the validity of stories associated with Glass for years. What they have concluded is that by any measure, Glass lived an extraordinary life, and it may have been amplified by his own abilities as a storyteller.
Movie Magic
Rumor has it that a sequel to the 2015 film “The Revenant” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass is in the works. Clint Gilchrist, executive director of the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, said he’s heard stirrings about another movie, but nothing firm.
Filmmakers consulted with Museum of the Mountain Man when they made “The Revenant,” and an exhibit in the museum shows Glass wielding a Bowie knife in a hand to claw encounter with a grizzly sow.
Gilchrist said although the many exploits associated with Glass prior to his traveling west in the early 1820s are unproven, much of what happened to him after the grizzly attack can be corroborated.
“The Revenant” received rave reviews from many film critics, but some historians objected because it didn’t follow the accepted research on Glass.
The movie is a fictionalized account inspired by the story of the Glass grizzly attack, his survival after the attack and his search for revenge on the two men who left him for dead — John Fitzgerald and possibly Jim Bridger.
There is significant speculation whether Bridger was one of the two men charged with caring for Glass after the grizzly attack. The main source who identified Bridger was Capt. Joseph LaBarge, and his comments were recorded 73 years after the mauling suffered by Glass.
Gilchrist said the film touches on many aspects of the history of the Rocky Mountain fur trade and provided an opportunity to celebrate a historic figure.
“You’ve got to remember, the filmmakers are in the entertainment business, not the history business,” he said.
The movie brought attention to the Hugh Glass story and gave the museum an opportunity to set the record straight, Gilchrist said.
“The movie did a really good job of bringing attention to the era of the mountain man,” Gilchrist said. “It’s hard to get that kind of exposure from millions of people. It did a real good job of portraying the look and feel of the times. Where they got it wrong was they changed the story.”