Skilled as a hunter, trapper, Army guide and Indian agent, Tom Fitzpatrick blazed much of the Oregon Trail, and his discovery of South Pass in the Rockies provided a gateway to western expansion. His exploits earned him the reputation as the greatest of mountain men.
In 1823 young Fitzpatrick was lured from New York to Missouri by a newspaper advertisement which promised adventure and riches in the beaver trade. Almost immediately he found the excitement he craved.
Traveling by keelboat up the Missouri River, the expedition was attacked by Indians. Twenty-four men were killed or wounded.
Almost overnight Fitzpatrick changed from a greenhorn boy to a mountain man through a series of grueling hardships that tested every ounce of his endurance.
As a member of General Ashley's Rocky Mountain Fur Company, he braved the wilderness to establish the fur trade in the new world. The dreaded Blackfeet attacked the party and two fingers were torn from Fitzpatrick's right hand.
Always after that he was spoken of as Broken-Hand.
When the fur trade died, Broken-Hand became a guide and led the first emigrant train over the Oregon Trail. Later he joined Fremont's expedition to California, an almost incredible trek over the Sierras. During the Mexican War he was an army guide.
Then in 1846 he was appointed Indian agent, with jurisdiction over more than three thousand warriors, and became famous for his successful negotiation of peace treaties.
His friends were the giants of the West who, like himself, helped make history—Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, John Fremont, Stephen Kearny. But it is Tom Fitzpatrick who captures the imagination by his resourcefulness, fearlessness and extreme courage.
