Thomas Fitzpatrick (trapper)

Thomas Fitzpatrick
Bornc. 1799
County Cavan, Kingdom of Ireland
DiedFebruary 7, 1854 (aged ~55)
Washington, D.C., United States
Resting placeCongressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
NationalityIrish-American
Other names"Broken Hand"
Occupation(s)Mountain Man, trapper, guide, Indian agent
SpouseMargaret Poisal
ChildrenFriday, Arapaho Chief (unofficially adopted)
RelativesChief Niwot (wife's maternal uncle)

Thomas Fitzpatrick (1799 – February 7, 1854) was an American fur trader, Indian agent, and mountain man.[1] He trapped for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and the American Fur Company. He was among the first white men to discover South Pass, Wyoming. In 1831, he found and took in a lost Arapaho boy, Friday, who he had schooled in St. Louis, Missouri; Friday became a noted interpreter and peacemaker and leader of a band of Northern Arapaho.

Fitzpatrick was a government guide and also led a wagon train of pioneers to Oregon. He helped negotiate the Fort Laramie treaty of 1851. In the winter of 1853–54, Fitzpatrick went to Washington, D.C., to see after treaties that needed to be approved, but while there he contracted pneumonia and died on February 7, 1854.

He was known as "Broken Hand" after his left hand had been crippled in a firearms accident.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NCWHM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sepehri was invoked but never defined (see the help page).