Advanced American History
History of Jeremiah Johnston
September 30, 2013
In 1971, the movie Jeremiah Johnson was produced. It told the tale of a fearless mountain man who hacked his living out of the wilderness and fought with the Indians who brutally murdered his wife and adopted child. In 1977 the book Crow Killer, was published by Raymond Thorpe. The book told a more accurate story of the life of this famous mountain man known as Liver Eating Johnson. In this paper I would like to identify the facts, the true and real facts about this great American legend.
Jeremiah Johnston was born as John Garrison. He was born in Little York, New Jersey in the year 1824. His father was an Irish drunk who sailed for the trading companies and his mother’s works are unknown. As a young man, John was brutally abused by his father and when he was 15 ran off and joined the only other life he knew, sailing. John changed his name during this time to John Johnston in order to not be found by his father. He would spend five years working on a fishing boat until the outbreak of the Mexican War in the late 1830’s. He enlisted as a navy sailor in 1842. In his time as a fisherman he had grown to his full size of six feet four inches and two hundred and eighty pounds. Many of navy men had recorded that Johnston was known for being very surly and quiet with a hair trigger temper. He was discharged after six months for striking a superior officer who had brutally whipped a fellow sailor. The record shows that when the Lieutenant came to that he did not know if he’s been struck by lightning or a spear.
After his discharge from the military, Johnston headed west into the unknown. His travels started in St. Louis where he would find that there was money to be made trapping in the Rocky Mountains. However, the stories of the California Gold Rush caught his attention and he traveled to California to make his fortune. He proved to be a pitiful miner and was asked to leave the miners camp after he killed a fellow miner who had tried to take Johnston’s mining pans. A fellow miner of the time recorded in a journal, “The boy wrapped a pair of hands around Brimley’s neck that were like bear paws and in one twist killed him.” From the California mine fields Johnston headed east until he ended in Colorado.
Bear Claw Chris Lapp as depicted in the movie, was the first Mountain man to find Johnston who was at the time starving and doing his best to cut wood for the fairy boats that traveled the Missouri River. Lapp took the young man and taught him the art of trapping and taught him the life of a trapper. Lapp once said that the boy was fearless, yet quiet and each day brought a different mood. In 1852, it is recorded that Johnston took for himself a Flathead Indian wife that was called the Swan. Johnston did move away from Bear Claw and built his own home on the Colorado River, about 70 miles north of Denver. It was in the spring of 1853 that his wife and unborn child were killed by a band of Crow Indians while Johnston was away. However, unlike the movie and the book are depicted, Johnston never actually started a blood vendetta with the Crows. Throughout his life he befriended and helped the Crows as much as he possibly could
It was not until the late 1850’s that Johnston’s legend became real. He was a man of many works. Johnston trapped, cut wood for the fairy boats traveling the Judith River, scouted for General Nelson A. Miles, and served as part of the military police force. Like his father, Johnston was an alcoholic and the alcohol usually kept him in a very surly mood, during this time though he did meet his lifelong friend and trapping partner J.X. Beidler who was responsible for telling much of Johnston’s story. One of X’s first accounts of Johnston came in 1856 when at Fort Red Cloud in southern Montana two Sioux braves began fighting one another in the fort and Johnston grabbed each by the neck and smashed their heads together hard enough to kill them. Beidler stated, “It was the most astonishing bout of strength I’ve ever witnessed.”
In 1863, Johnston enlisted in the Colorado Volunteers and served from April 16, 1863 until the end of the Civil War. His company of volunteers saw action at many battles right here is Missouri. Johnston himself won fame for being a superior marksman. After his discharge in 1865, Johnston went back to Montana and became a scout for the Army who at the time was fighting mass bands of Sioux Indians who were attacking the settlers. In 1868, Johnston won his infamous nickname “Liver Eater” when he and 15 other scouts were attacked by a small band of Sioux. Johnston killed the last brave in a knife fight and as he removed his Bowie knife from the poor brave’s stomach a piece of liver was still on his knife. J.X. wrote, “Johnston turned and looked at us and with a wide grin ate the last of the liver from the knife.” On record however there is never another account of Johnston performing such a show. The book Crow Killer talks of Johnston eating over twenty livers, however this is very much just a story.
It was after this that Johnston and Beidler spent the next 15 years as trappers and hunters. They also fell into peddling whiskey to the Native Americans which was illegal in the territory. During those 15 years however Beidler and many other mountain men of the time recorded Johnston killing over ten Indians in hand to hand combat. Passengers on the fairies would often state that going past the J.X. Wood Yard there would be human heads or skulls rammed onto posts. These were the victims of Johnston’s rifle and knife. Beidler’s accounts show that Johnston on more then one occasion would build a camp while on the run from a band of Indians and leave a poisoned piece of meat for the Indians to eat so that they would be dead the next day. Yet, besides Beidler’s journals there is no real account of this ever happening. In the winter of 1885 at almost 65 years old, Johnston led the reinforcements that would save Phillip Sheridan, through a blizzard and over 200 square miles. He was highly commemorated for this act.
In 1888, Johnston came down from the mountains and was elected sheriff in a Montana town named Red Lodge. He was involved in his last killing here. This time the victim was not an Indian. Red Lodge had a town bully named Sam Garret. He was a big black cowboy who loved terrorizing the local Crow Indians. On the town’s records, the story goes that Johnston at almost 70 now, approached Garret and respectively asked him to leave town. Not ready to back down, Garret drew his pistol and Johnston quickly reached out and snapped the man’s arm at the elbow, still not knowing when to quit Garret went for his other pistol and was kicked to the ground and then leveled with a Bowie knife in the chest, all this at the ripe age of 70 years old. After his small time though as sheriff he became bored with the job and was ready to go back to the mountains when his health took a turn for the worst.
In 1899, Johnston was instated into a hospital in Los Angeles. Less then a month later he died in his sleep. Today Johnston is seen as one of the great mountain men of his time. He settled much of Montana by guiding settlers and military leaders deep into Indian Territory. Living by knife and gun, Johnston hacked his living out of the wilderness with little to no help. However, he has been romanticized as character of raw killing and violence. The killer of the Crow people that after each killing would pluck out their livers and eat them as the blood ran down his beard. These are the tales of Beowulf type of hero which Johnston was not. He was an alcoholic and for many years would peddle whiskey and guns to the Indians. Many say that besides his surly tone and sometimes uncontrollable anger, that Johnston could not be trusted. Yet, these are the traits that shape a hard man. Johnston had good traits as well, children that lived in Red Lodge often told of how the giant with a badge would give them rock candy as he passed them on the street. For many years he befriended the army even when he was not legally a scout or soldier. His friends such as Bear Claw Chris Lapp, J.X. Beidler, Del Gue, and Hatchet Jack Ireland all believed him to be a great man that never showed his good traits unless a purpose or certain action were to unveil them.
Johnston in 1973 was reburied at Cody, Wyoming where his grave is marked. The funeral had many attendants, many buck skinners but Robert Redford was a pallbearer of the casket. In 2005, a group of three elk hunters were camping in the Beartooth Mountains, a favorite stomping ground of Johnston’s. They say that while sitting around the fire the smell of pipe tobacco drifted into the camp, looking around in confusion the hunters watched a man atop a horse ride through the camp with a string of horses without saying a word. All of the hunters stated that the man was tall, even in the saddle. His attire was that of buck skins and moccasins. Across the saddle lay an old Hawken rifle and that the man’s beard was blood red. Some say that Johnston is dead, yet some of the old men that saw him as a child say he never will be.
WWW.johnlivereatingjohnston.com
WWW.franksrealm.com/Indians/.../pages/mountainman-johngarrison.htm
WWW.archerytalk.com › ... › Western Bowhunting Gallery
History of Jeremiah Johnston
September 30, 2013
In 1971, the movie Jeremiah Johnson was produced. It told the tale of a fearless mountain man who hacked his living out of the wilderness and fought with the Indians who brutally murdered his wife and adopted child. In 1977 the book Crow Killer, was published by Raymond Thorpe. The book told a more accurate story of the life of this famous mountain man known as Liver Eating Johnson. In this paper I would like to identify the facts, the true and real facts about this great American legend.
Jeremiah Johnston was born as John Garrison. He was born in Little York, New Jersey in the year 1824. His father was an Irish drunk who sailed for the trading companies and his mother’s works are unknown. As a young man, John was brutally abused by his father and when he was 15 ran off and joined the only other life he knew, sailing. John changed his name during this time to John Johnston in order to not be found by his father. He would spend five years working on a fishing boat until the outbreak of the Mexican War in the late 1830’s. He enlisted as a navy sailor in 1842. In his time as a fisherman he had grown to his full size of six feet four inches and two hundred and eighty pounds. Many of navy men had recorded that Johnston was known for being very surly and quiet with a hair trigger temper. He was discharged after six months for striking a superior officer who had brutally whipped a fellow sailor. The record shows that when the Lieutenant came to that he did not know if he’s been struck by lightning or a spear.
After his discharge from the military, Johnston headed west into the unknown. His travels started in St. Louis where he would find that there was money to be made trapping in the Rocky Mountains. However, the stories of the California Gold Rush caught his attention and he traveled to California to make his fortune. He proved to be a pitiful miner and was asked to leave the miners camp after he killed a fellow miner who had tried to take Johnston’s mining pans. A fellow miner of the time recorded in a journal, “The boy wrapped a pair of hands around Brimley’s neck that were like bear paws and in one twist killed him.” From the California mine fields Johnston headed east until he ended in Colorado.
Bear Claw Chris Lapp as depicted in the movie, was the first Mountain man to find Johnston who was at the time starving and doing his best to cut wood for the fairy boats that traveled the Missouri River. Lapp took the young man and taught him the art of trapping and taught him the life of a trapper. Lapp once said that the boy was fearless, yet quiet and each day brought a different mood. In 1852, it is recorded that Johnston took for himself a Flathead Indian wife that was called the Swan. Johnston did move away from Bear Claw and built his own home on the Colorado River, about 70 miles north of Denver. It was in the spring of 1853 that his wife and unborn child were killed by a band of Crow Indians while Johnston was away. However, unlike the movie and the book are depicted, Johnston never actually started a blood vendetta with the Crows. Throughout his life he befriended and helped the Crows as much as he possibly could
It was not until the late 1850’s that Johnston’s legend became real. He was a man of many works. Johnston trapped, cut wood for the fairy boats traveling the Judith River, scouted for General Nelson A. Miles, and served as part of the military police force. Like his father, Johnston was an alcoholic and the alcohol usually kept him in a very surly mood, during this time though he did meet his lifelong friend and trapping partner J.X. Beidler who was responsible for telling much of Johnston’s story. One of X’s first accounts of Johnston came in 1856 when at Fort Red Cloud in southern Montana two Sioux braves began fighting one another in the fort and Johnston grabbed each by the neck and smashed their heads together hard enough to kill them. Beidler stated, “It was the most astonishing bout of strength I’ve ever witnessed.”
In 1863, Johnston enlisted in the Colorado Volunteers and served from April 16, 1863 until the end of the Civil War. His company of volunteers saw action at many battles right here is Missouri. Johnston himself won fame for being a superior marksman. After his discharge in 1865, Johnston went back to Montana and became a scout for the Army who at the time was fighting mass bands of Sioux Indians who were attacking the settlers. In 1868, Johnston won his infamous nickname “Liver Eater” when he and 15 other scouts were attacked by a small band of Sioux. Johnston killed the last brave in a knife fight and as he removed his Bowie knife from the poor brave’s stomach a piece of liver was still on his knife. J.X. wrote, “Johnston turned and looked at us and with a wide grin ate the last of the liver from the knife.” On record however there is never another account of Johnston performing such a show. The book Crow Killer talks of Johnston eating over twenty livers, however this is very much just a story.
It was after this that Johnston and Beidler spent the next 15 years as trappers and hunters. They also fell into peddling whiskey to the Native Americans which was illegal in the territory. During those 15 years however Beidler and many other mountain men of the time recorded Johnston killing over ten Indians in hand to hand combat. Passengers on the fairies would often state that going past the J.X. Wood Yard there would be human heads or skulls rammed onto posts. These were the victims of Johnston’s rifle and knife. Beidler’s accounts show that Johnston on more then one occasion would build a camp while on the run from a band of Indians and leave a poisoned piece of meat for the Indians to eat so that they would be dead the next day. Yet, besides Beidler’s journals there is no real account of this ever happening. In the winter of 1885 at almost 65 years old, Johnston led the reinforcements that would save Phillip Sheridan, through a blizzard and over 200 square miles. He was highly commemorated for this act.
In 1888, Johnston came down from the mountains and was elected sheriff in a Montana town named Red Lodge. He was involved in his last killing here. This time the victim was not an Indian. Red Lodge had a town bully named Sam Garret. He was a big black cowboy who loved terrorizing the local Crow Indians. On the town’s records, the story goes that Johnston at almost 70 now, approached Garret and respectively asked him to leave town. Not ready to back down, Garret drew his pistol and Johnston quickly reached out and snapped the man’s arm at the elbow, still not knowing when to quit Garret went for his other pistol and was kicked to the ground and then leveled with a Bowie knife in the chest, all this at the ripe age of 70 years old. After his small time though as sheriff he became bored with the job and was ready to go back to the mountains when his health took a turn for the worst.
In 1899, Johnston was instated into a hospital in Los Angeles. Less then a month later he died in his sleep. Today Johnston is seen as one of the great mountain men of his time. He settled much of Montana by guiding settlers and military leaders deep into Indian Territory. Living by knife and gun, Johnston hacked his living out of the wilderness with little to no help. However, he has been romanticized as character of raw killing and violence. The killer of the Crow people that after each killing would pluck out their livers and eat them as the blood ran down his beard. These are the tales of Beowulf type of hero which Johnston was not. He was an alcoholic and for many years would peddle whiskey and guns to the Indians. Many say that besides his surly tone and sometimes uncontrollable anger, that Johnston could not be trusted. Yet, these are the traits that shape a hard man. Johnston had good traits as well, children that lived in Red Lodge often told of how the giant with a badge would give them rock candy as he passed them on the street. For many years he befriended the army even when he was not legally a scout or soldier. His friends such as Bear Claw Chris Lapp, J.X. Beidler, Del Gue, and Hatchet Jack Ireland all believed him to be a great man that never showed his good traits unless a purpose or certain action were to unveil them.
Johnston in 1973 was reburied at Cody, Wyoming where his grave is marked. The funeral had many attendants, many buck skinners but Robert Redford was a pallbearer of the casket. In 2005, a group of three elk hunters were camping in the Beartooth Mountains, a favorite stomping ground of Johnston’s. They say that while sitting around the fire the smell of pipe tobacco drifted into the camp, looking around in confusion the hunters watched a man atop a horse ride through the camp with a string of horses without saying a word. All of the hunters stated that the man was tall, even in the saddle. His attire was that of buck skins and moccasins. Across the saddle lay an old Hawken rifle and that the man’s beard was blood red. Some say that Johnston is dead, yet some of the old men that saw him as a child say he never will be.
WWW.johnlivereatingjohnston.com
WWW.franksrealm.com/Indians/.../pages/mountainman-johngarrison.htm
WWW.archerytalk.com › ... › Western Bowhunting Gallery
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