Major Andrew Henry ( 1775 – January 10, 1832) was an American miner, army officer, frontiersman, trapper and entrepreneur. Alongside

William H. Ashley William Henry Ashley (c. 1778 – March 26, 1838) was an American miner, land speculator, manufacturer, territorial militia general, politician, frontiersman, fur trader, entrepreneur, hunter, and slave owner. Ashley was best known for being th ...

, Henry was the co-owner of the successful

Rocky Mountain Fur Company The enterprise that eventually came to be known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1822 by William Henry Ashley and Andrew Henry. Among the original employees, known as "Ashley's Hundred," were Jedediah ...

, otherwise known as "Ashley's Hundred", for the famous mountain men working for their firm from 1822 to 1832.National Park Service: Andrew Henry.
/ref> Henry appears in the narrative poem the ''Song of

Hugh Glass Hugh Glass ( 1783 – 1833) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, trader, hunter and explorer. He is best known for his story of survival and forgiveness after being left for dead by companions when he was mauled by a grizzly bear. No rec ...

'', which is part of the Neihardt's '' Cycle of the West''. He is portrayed by

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

in the 1971 film '' Man in the Wilderness'' and by

Domhnall Gleeson Domhnall Gleeson (; born 12 May 1983) is an Irish actor and screenwriter. He is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, with whom he has appeared in a number of films and theatre projects. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts from Dublin Inst ...

in the 2015 film '' The Revenant'', both of which depict Glass's bear attack and journey.

Early life

Henry was born in or around 1775 in Fayette County, in the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

, and was tall and slender, with dark hair, blue eyes, and a reputation for honesty. Henry went to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, in his twenties, but moved on to Spanish Upper Louisiana Territory in 1800 (before the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

), to the lead mines near present-day Potosi,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and in 1806, he bought a share of a lead mine.Lindsley, Margaret Hawkes. 1990. Andrew Henry: Mine and Mountain Major. Jelm Mountain Publications. 374 pp.

Career

In 1807, he joined with

Manuel Lisa Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa (September 8, 1772 in New Orleans Louisiana (New Spain) – August 12, 1820 in St. Louis, Missouri), was a Spanish citizen and later, became an American citizen who, while living on the western frontier, ...

and three members of the

Corps of Discovery The Corps of Discovery was a specially established unit of the United States Army which formed the nucleus of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that took place between May 1804 and September 1806. The Corps was led jointly by Captain Meriwether Lewis ...

(

George Drouillard George Drouillard (1773–1810) was a civilian interpreter, scout, hunter, and cartographer, hired for Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804–1806, in search of a water route to the Pacifi ...

, Peter M. Weiser, and John Potts) and founded Lisa, Menard & Morrison to establish trading and beaver trapping enterprises at the headwaters of the Missouri River. In 1809, Henry led an expedition to the Three Forks of the Missouri River near present-day

Three Forks, Montana Three Forks is a city in Gallatin County, Montana, United States and is located within the watershed valley system of both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers drainage basins — and is historically considered the birthplace or start of the M ...

, where he tried to establish a beaver trapping outpost but was beaten back by the

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

People. In 1810, Henry abandoned the Three Forks outpost and crossed the Continental Divide and briefly trapped the headwaters of the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

, wintering in caves and hovels that historians have named "Fort Henry" on Henry's Fork of the Snake River, near present-day

Saint Anthony, Idaho St. Anthony is a city in and the county seat of Fremont County, Idaho, United States. The population was 3,542 at the 2010 census, up from 3,342 in 2000.

. After many difficulties, especially with the

Indians, Henry returned to Saint Louis,

in January, 1812. When the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

was declared Henry enrolled in the army, rising to the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. In 1818, Henry married Mary Flemming, daughter of one of the owners of the lead mine. Mary Flemming was of French birth and considerably younger than Henry; the marriage was a happy one for them both and produced four children. Henry returned to lead mining. In 1822, he started what would become the Rocky Mountain Fur Company with

. The new company sent three

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open wat ...

s up the Missouri River, three different times. Henry led an expedition of 21 men, 60 horses and one keelboat to the mouth of the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...

and built a post that came to be known as Fort Henry. The next boat, under the command of Daniel Moore, sank, along with ten thousand dollars' worth of provisions. Ashley equipped a third boat, piloted it himself, and was able to get through to Henry at the Yellowstone. Ashley then immediately returned to Saint Louis to make preparations for the following season. In 1824, after a profitable season Henry retired from the company and returned, once more, to lead mining. He died in

Washington County, Missouri Washington County is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 23,514. The county seat and largest city is Potosi. The county was officially organized on August ...

on January 10, 1832.

In popular culture

The actor

Tris Coffin Tristram Chockley Coffin (August 13, 1909 – March 26, 1990) was a film and television actor from the latter 1930s through the 1970s, usually in westerns or other B-movie action-adventure productions. Early years Coffin's mother was actre ...

played Henry in the 1966 episode, "Hugh Glass Meets the Bear", on the

syndicated television Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

, ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program ...

''. John Alderson was cast as the rugged trail guide Hugh Glass, the trapper who was mauled by a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

, left for dead, but survived by crawling two hundred miles to safety. Others in the episode were

Morgan Woodward Thomas Morgan Woodward (September 16, 1925 – February 22, 2019) was an American actor who is best known for his recurring role as Marvin "Punk" Anderson on the television soap opera ''Dallas'' and for his portrayal of Boss Godfrey, the sungla ...

as trapper Thomas Fitzpatrick and

Victor French Victor Edwin French (December 4, 1934 – June 15, 1989) was an American actor and director. He is remembered for roles on the television programs ''Gunsmoke'', ''Little House on the Prairie'', ''Highway to Heaven'', and ''Carter Country''. ...

as Louis Baptiste.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Andrew American fur traders American miners 1775 births 1832 deaths