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 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.
He joined the
Union Army in
St. Louis in
1864 ( Co. H, 2nd Colorado Cavalry) as a sharpshooter, and was honorably discharged the following year. During the 1880s he was appointed 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.
The above information is based upon the yarns and tales told over and over through the years. According to Johnson's biographer he was a big man, but standing 5'11 and 3/4" tall. This is verified by his
Civil War record.
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 is basically drawn from
Vardis Fisher's novel
Mountain Man. In neither the novel nor the movie is there 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
pallbearersPS. this is the new thing for me .. in personally, I think eating a human liver is interesting but I never try I don't want it too though! :SAnyway, I try to post the picture but there's some problems of this s**t server!! I don't know what's wrong with it but the picture isn't show up =[ *sadd* I will try again as soon as it works ;) just wait and see! ... ~kisses~ 
