Liver-Eating Johnson
John "Liver-Eating" Johnson ( c.1824 – January 21, 1900 ) was a legendary 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 a large man, standing 6' 6" tall and weighing about 250 pounds.
In 1847, his Indian wife is said to have been killed by members of the Crow tribe, and Johnston 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 the revenge slaying, some credence might be given to this activity. Eventually, Johnston made peace with the Crow.
Later, he is said to have revenged the death of a companion by killing not only the indians who did the killing, but also the traders who sold them the guns.
Some sources say that he joined the Union Army in St. Louis in 1864 as a sharpshooter and was honorably discharged the following year. During the 1880s he became a deputy sheriff in Leadville, Colorado and a town marshal in Red Lodge, Montana.
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.
In 1972, the film Jeremiah Johnson was released. The film was based, at least partly, on Johnson's life, with Robert Redford playing Johnson. The film used some material from the 1969 book Crow Killer: the Saga of Liver Eating Johnson, by Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker, but in the movie there was no reference to liver consumption or removal.
On June 8, 1974, Liver Eating Johnson’s body was reburied in Old Trail Town in Cody, Wyoming with Robert Redford as one of the pallbearers.
References
- Old West Gravesites (John Garrison)
- Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson, Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker, Indiana University Press 1958
- Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Liver Eating Johnson and Jeremiah Johnson: Dualing Images of a Mountain Man
- A Life Wild and Perilous : Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific, Robert M. Utley
- FindaGrave.com — John "Liver-Eating" Johnston
- Yellowstone Genealogy Forum: Chapple–Rixon-Panton (Yellowstone County Information Sources)