Liver-Eating Johnson
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John "Liver-Eating" Johnson (c.1824 – January 21, 1900) was a mountain man of the American West.
He is said to have been born in New Jersey with the name John Garrison. Some accounts say that he joined the navy in 1846 during the Mexican-American War but, after striking an officer, he deserted, changed his name to John Johnston, and traveled west to trap and hunt in Wyoming. He also became a "woodhawk," supplying cord wood to steamboats. He was described as a large man, standing around six feet tall and weighing over two hundred pounds.
In 1847, his Native American wife is said to have been killed by members of the Crow tribe, and Johnson set out to take revenge, his personal war on the Crows lasting more than 20 years. The legend says that he would cut out and eat the liver of each man killed, but it's quite possible that this only happened once and that he just pretended to eat the liver. In any case, he eventually became known as Liver-Eating Johnson (usually spelled without the t in Johnston). Since eating the liver of a victim is a symbolic way of completing a revenge slaying, some credence might be given to this activity.
One story is that Johnson was ambushed by a group of Blackfoot warriors in the dead of winter on a foray to visit his Flathead kin, a trip that would have been over five hundred miles. The Blackfoot plan was to sell him to the Crow, his mortal enemies, for a handsome price. He was stripped to the waist, tied with leather thongs and put in a teepee with an inexperienced guard outside. Johnson managed to chew through the straps,then knocked out his young guard with one crippling jab between the eyes, took his knife and scalped him, then quickly cut off one of his legs at the hip. Allegedly using the leg as a blunt weapon, he made his escape into the woods, and survived on the Blackfoot's leg until he reached the cabin of Del Gue, his trapping partner, more dead than alive, a journey of about two hundred miles.
Eventually, Johnson made peace with the Crow, who became "his brothers", and his personal vendetta against them finally ended after twenty-five years and scores of Crow warriors had fallen. The West however was still a very violent and territorial place, particularly during the Plains Indian Wars of the mid 1800's. Many more Indians of different tribes, especially but not limited to, the Sioux and Blackfoot, would know the wrath of "Dapiek Absaroka" Crow killer and his fellow mountain men.
The above information is based upon the yarns and tales told over and over through the years. Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher is a good fiction source.
The accurate story is told in the diaries of Lee and Kaiser who were on the Missouri River in 1868 when Johnston was given his moniker after a rainy fight with the Sioux.
He joined the Union Army in St. Louis in 1864 (Co. H, 2nd Colorado Cavalry) as a private, and was honorably discharged the following year. During the 1880s he was appointed deputy sheriff in Coulson, Montana and a town marshal in Red Lodge, Montana. He was listed as five foot, eleven and three-quarter inches tall according to Government records.
In December 1899, he was admitted to a veteran's hospital in Los Angeles, died on January 21, 1900, at the age of about 76, and was buried in nearby Sawtell National Cemetery.
His tales are also the basis for the movie Jeremiah Johnson featuring Robert Redford.
