Revenant - The Real Hugh Glass Story

When Michael Punke wrote the Revenant he used the unbelievable story of Hugh Glass, a 19th century fur trapping who dragged himself hundreds of miles for revenge, as inspiration.

In 1823 Glass joined an expedition who were going to travel up the Missouri river and Grand river in modern day South Dakota. During the trip he was attacked by a grizzly bear and before the attack finally ended he had been mauled from head to toe.

Glass surprisingly survived the attack but the rest of the men believed his would die shortly. And with winter approaching the men were unable to carry Glass so the leader of the expedition Henry took all but two of men and carried on. The two men were paid to stay and give Glass a decent burial when the time came. But almost a week later Glass was still clinging to life and the men, fearing they would perish aswell, took all of Glass' tools including his gun and knife and went to join back up with expedition. They told Henry that Glass had died.

But Glass did not die he woke up and made his way to the nearby river. He drank the water, ate berries, set his own broken leg and allowed maggots to eat his dying flesh. His determination to survive and get revenge on the men that left him behind meant he began to drag himself to the nearest post, Fort Kiowa.

He managed to join up with a group of trappers heading to Yellowstone. But his bad luck struck again and the group were attacked by a group of Native Americans. All the group, apart from Glass, were killee and was again alone. He set of alone and over a month later he arrived at Big Horn where he was going to enact his revenge, but the men had already left.

So Glass collected up some supplied and joined a group of four trappers again in pursuit of the men who betrayed him. Again the group encountered Native Americans but this time they were wrlcomed into their homes. However the Native Americans chief had been killed by trappers and the men had walked into a trap. Two of the men were killed and after escaing Glass found himself alone again.

Glass may have lost his gun but his knife and flint were enough to sustain him until he finally reached Fort Kiowa where the men who betrayed him were. When he arrived the fort had heard of his superhuman and inspiring journey and he was greeted with awe and amazement.

But after his nine month journey he was exhausted and nothing happened. He was never able to get his revenge but he will always be remembered for incredible feat of human strength and determination.