ISBN: 0803272081
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Summary: One of the colosal figures of the old West
Most historians of the fur trade period of the old West regard Thomas Fitzpatrick as perhaps the greatest of all the Mountain Men, certainly among the top three or four along with Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger, or perhaps Joseph Walker or Kit Carson. Hafen thinks of him as almost a god and writes glowingly of his exploits and character.
Fitzpatrick was born in Ireland (quite a few Mountain Men came from Irish or Scots-Irish descent) in 1799. He came to America by the age of 17 and was a member of Ashley's first venture up the Missouri in 1823. As a trapper he led parties into every region of the Rocky Mountain west, returning frequently at the end of the trapping season to St. Louis with that year's catch, only to return again a short time later with the supply trains for the designated rendezvous. He was owner for a while of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which he later sold to the American Fur Company. When the fur trade fell victim to a change in hat styles, Fitzpatrick became a guide for emigrant wagon trains and in the trade that existed along the Santa Fe Trail. He injured his hand (so the story goes, Fitzpatrick never gave a full account himself) in an encounter with the Blackfeet in 1836, and it was by the name Broken Hand that the Indians ever after called him. In 1843 he was guide with Fremont on his second expedition to Oregon and California, and guided Kearny to Socorro, NM, at the beginning of the Mexican War the following year. He became Indian Agent for the Central Plains tribes and organized many councils with them (including the famous Ft. Laramie council of 1851). He died in Washington, DC, there on Indian affairs business, in 1854.
Leroy Hafen was one of the greatest of the "old school" historical writers of the old West. He was an "on sight" researcher, tramping the same ground his subjects did, seeing what they saw. His footnotes, which often identify locations of vague references found in trapper journals or clarify and correct old diary entries, are often as fascinating as the text itself. He is a thorough and careful historian; nothing gets by him without the greatest of scrutiny. His admiration for Fitzpatrick comes through loud and clear: he calls him "an epic figure - unique and incomparable." Hafen is out of the old school of narrative historians (Parkman and Lossing come to mind), and he is a joy to read. History is never so enjoyable as in the hands of these writers. It's an excellent book, informative and entertaining. Highly recommended.
Summary: Outstanding tribute to a great man
This was an excellent book! It is a vivid, comprehensive and sweeping biography of a most important and influential man of the early American West. At the age of twenty four, Thomas Fitzpatrick started out with Ashley's expedition of 1823 as a fur trapper going up the Missouri River. The following year he discovered South Pass, then was part owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. After the fur trade declined, he guided the first wagon train west over the Oregon Trail, then acted as guide to Fremont, Kearny and Abert on their expeditions. Later,he was appointed as an Indian Agent for the government and in this position he was most significant in facilitating relations with the Plains Indians. Leroy Hafen's writing is to be commended. He was an excellent author/historian. This is an easy book to read, and there is so much history to this remarkable man, Thomas Fitzpatrick.
Summary: incredible portrayal of the expansion of the west
This book is the result of a historian's dissertation on this little known now, but once well-known figure in the expansion of the west. Fitzpatrick discovered the Southern Pass, mentored Kit Carson, and is buried in the Congressional Cemetary in Washington DC. I'm not a fan of historical novels, or much of a student of history. But, this book described the way of life of the great western explorers of the 19th century in fascinating detail. Chock full of facts that I never learned in school history, this book sheds light on a poorly represented but important part of US history by tracing Fitzpatrick's life as reconstructed from historical documents and interviews with surviving ancestors. I highly recommend this book.
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