Liver-Eating-Johnson: (a.k.a. Jeremiah Johnson) The Truth Finally Revealed

LIVER-EATING JOHNSON:

THE TRUTH FINALLY REVEALED

by

Dr. Dennis McLelland

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Dr. Dennis McLelland on Smashwords

Liver-Eating Johnson:

The Truth Finally Revealed

Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Dennis McLelland

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Acknowledgments

First, and foremost, I want to express how important the late Mr. Harry Owens of Red Lodge, Montana, was to me in encouraging me to write my book. Harry was a life-long resident of Red Lodge and was familiar with the truth about Johnston. Harry disclosed a secret, in that Johnston’s real name was John Garrison. Thanks to my wife, Rosie, for her patience. Finally, I wish to thank God Almighty for his constant reminders that I’m still a work in progress.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Exploding the Myths

Chapter 2 The Silence of the Lion: The Early Years

Chapter 3 Dreams in the Rivers: Gold Fever

Chapter 4 The Call of Cannons: The Civil War Years

Chapter 5 Scraping a Living Under Sitting Bull’s Nose 1865-1876

Chapter 6 Liver-Eating Johnston Earns His Name

Chapter 7 The Fort Benton Whiskey Peddler: 1868-1873

Chapter 8 A Country of Broken Character

Chapter 9 The Montana Lawman

Chapter 10 Crossing the Great Divide

Chapter 11 Returning To Wyoming

Chapter 12 A Monument of Honor

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

John Liver-Eating Johnston (correct spelling) never ate anyone’s liver. Then why the name Liver Eating? Here is the true story. Johnston earned his macabre name during a battle with the Sioux in 1868. Some researchers think the year of the battle was in 1869, or even 1870. None of that matters because Johnston himself stated that the attack took place in 1868.

The Sioux attacked Johnston and about fifteen other woodcutters as the men were cautiously cutting cords of wood on Sioux land to fuel passing steamboats. Toward the end of the battle, Johnston thrust his knife into a Sioux warrior’s side. When he withdrew his knife, a bit of liver remained attached to the knife. As a joke, Johnston then held up the piece of liver to his friends and asked them if they wanted a taste. Johnston pretended to eat the piece of liver. Hence, the birth of the nickname, Liver-Eating Johnston.

The reader is most likely aware that John Liver-Eating Johnston was the subject of the 1972 hit movie, Jeremiah Johnson, starring Robert Redford. Many viewers of the movie were captivated by the exploits of the movie’s protagonist, Jeremiah Johnson, and believed him to be a true historical character. He wasn’t. Authors Robert Thorpe and Robert Bunker, in a captivating book of historical fiction entitled Crow Killer, The Saga of Liver Eating Johnson, created him through the writing of their book.

Liver-Eating-Johnson: The Truth Finally Revealed, seeks to assist readers in discovering who the real John Johnston was. Below are the specific research areas from which relevant facts about the life of John Liver-Eating Johnston were extracted.

Sources of Research Materials

All sources used to uncover information about Johnston were culled from principally four sources: 1 .Government, military, and pension records. 2. Anecdotal recollections of Johnston as recorded by military officers under whom Johnston served as scout during the Indian Wars of 1876-1877. 3. Remembrances of Johnston by acquaintances and friends. 4. Personal interviews with newspaper reporters.

It is indeed difficult to flesh out a full, comprehensive, biography about Liver-Eating Johnston. There are too many holes in his personal history. Thus, this book will offer the reader a chronological rendering of many of the known, significant, life events, that will give readers a solid picture of who John Johnston truly was in the early west.

Wild Bill Hickok Author Shared Similar Challenge

Joseph G. Rosa, author of Wild Bill Hickok: The Man & His Myth (University Press of Kansas, 1996) related a similar dilemma when he wrote, that in many instances I did unearth new materials, confound legends, and clarify events...that had been a mystery. But there are still gaps, many of them unlikely ever to be filled, for no one can hope to learn everything about another person, least of all a highly controversial historical character.

Johnston Played a Role in Helping to Open the West.

Johnston did play a role (albeit, a minor one) in the opening of the American west. He served as a scout with the 2nd Colorado Cavalry Volunteers for the Union Army. During the great Indian Wars of 1876-1877, Johnston similarly served as a contract scout for General Nelson A. Miles, General Samuel Sturgis, and many other top-level officers.

Liver-Eating-Johnson: The Truth Finally Revealed, presents many of the known facts about Johnston’s life. The wilderness experiences and exploits of John Johnston (a.k.a. John Garrison) were perhaps as impressive as were those of Jim Bridger and Kit Carson. Yet Johnston never achieved their level of fame and notoriety. This was apparently by design because he never purposefully sought the spotlight except but for one time - when he decided to join the Hardwick’s Great Rocky Mountain Wild West Show in 1884 where he was billed (most appropriately) as Liver-Eating-Johnson: The Truth Finally Revealed.

Johnston - A Man of Intrigue

To this day, Johnston remains a most fascinating frontier character. He possessed an amazing array of frontier skills and a remarkable gift for survival. His death at age seventy-six is proof of his wilderness abilities. His confidence in his marksmanship, his incredible strength, and his seemingly untiring energy levels, propelled him among the top ranks of the mountain men who plied their pelts in the early west.

This respected U.S. Army scout of the 1876-1877 Indian Wars spent most of his adult life in the wilderness. His life as a free trapper allowed him to live in the lap of the mountains, near beaver streams for quick access to his traps, near rifle and pistol and butcher knife in preparation for inevitable Sioux, Cheyenne or Blackfoot raiding parties.

Some Important Considerations

This book will detail a myriad of facts about the exploits of Johnston. It should delight most, and may, perhaps, sadden others. Some fans will view this book as breaking up the romance they enjoyed with the Johnston myth. This is quite understandable. Conversely, to the reader with little or nor familiarity with the name of Liver-Eating Johnston, this book will serve as an excellent starting place in learning about the exploits that cast Johnston into the arms of myth and legend.

The Myth That Built Johnston’s Reputation Never Happened!

The bottom line to remember is that John Liver-Eating Johnston was a sailor on board ship prior to, and during, the Mexican War of 1846-1847, when the Crow supposedly killed his pregnant Flathead wife. The Crow were allies to both Johnston and the white race, despite the errant fables spun by Thorpe and Bunker in their novel, The Crow Killer.

Johnston repeatedly stated that he was involved in over forty fights with the Indians from California to the Gulf of Mexico. Never was the Crow nation involved. Why Thorpe and Bunker chose the Crow Nation to pick on for the supposed vendetta with Johnston has no basis in history. His battles were with the Blackfoot, Sioux, and Cheyenne – never the Crow.

It is hoped that Liver-Eating-Johnson: The Truth Finally Revealed, will answer many of the readers’ questions about the life of Johnston. It is also hoped that this book will encourage the reader to conduct their own research and uncover more Johnston gems of historical truths that can add to the extant literature about John Johnston - certainly one of the most captivating characters of the old west

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CHAPTER 1

EXPLODING THE MYTHS

The name Liver-Eating Johnston continues to interest and fascinate many students and fans of the old West. There remains a large group of individuals who are not certain about the reality of Johnston’s life. Myths and uncertainties cloud the actual character of John Johnston, aka John Garrison, aka William Garrison.

The confusion finds its origin with the 1958 publishing of a well written novel entitled Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson, by Thorpe and Bunker. The Johnston legend was given flesh through the vivid imagination of Robert Bunker, the Crow Killer’s primary author. Old Jeremiah ‘Liver- Eating’ Johnston was, indeed, an invention of a talented mind. For those who have previously read Thorpe and Bunker’s book, you are soon be given a new perspective about the life of Johnston. Of course, for some, the fictional character of Liver-Eating Johnston that found life in both novel and Hollywood film is simply more fun than is the actual historical figure. But the facts need to be made known.

In this chapter, I will present a summary of the primary myths penned by Thorpe and Bunker. These are the myths that created all the hype about the fictional Jeremiah Johnson character. Unfortunately, there are many gaps in the life of John Johnston. Much of the errant knowledge base that does exist emanates mostly from one source - Thorpe and Bunkers’ novel.

Since they created the legend of Liver-Eating-Johnston, they were credited with being experts on the Johnston legacy. They were deemed as authorities on the life of Johnston. Their readers had little idea that Thorpe and Bunkers’ created the Johnston persona. Their Crow Killer book became the point of reference for people seeking information about Johnston; hence, misinformation abounds.

Johnston’s Presence in the Old West

Johnston was respected and feared by his Indian foe. His intelligence, strength, and fighting ability sustained him during the years spent in the wilderness. Word spread that the Liver-Eater was bad medicine. Similarly, Johnston commanded great respect from his peers — mountain men, trappers, and military superiors, for his competence in performing his duties and meeting the challenges of frontier life. Yet, the name of John Liver-Eating Johnston is visibly absent from our American history books primarily because so little has been written about him. Nonetheless, his story remains one of fascination.

Many are intrigued by the compelling post-Civil War era that produced names like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph, General Nelson A. Miles, and Yellowstone Kelly — men whose exploits have been forever etched in the collective minds of students of the early American west. It was to these self-same men to whom Johnston became connected, vis-à-vis, as scout in many hard-fought military campaigns during the great Indian Wars of 1876-1877.

The famous frontier scout, Yellowstone Kelly, with whom Johnston served under General Nelson A. Miles, stated in his autobiography that at the beginning of the Indian Wars in 1876-1877, Johnston was already recognized as a superior frontier presence. Kelly noted that among his scouts was, ...the celebrated hunter and frontiersman on whom rested the sobriquet of ‘Liver-Eating Johnson.’ (1).

The Crow Killer: The Saga of Misinformation

Thorpe and Bunkers’ book, Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson,(2) gives the reader an exhilarating look into the life of a fictitious mountain man named Jeremiah Johnson. However, there is very little truth found in the Crow Killer’s one hundred ninety pages. Only a small portion of its contents has been proven verifiable. For example, a hint about the ultimate veracity of the Crow Killer book is presented in the book’s forward, offered by Richard M. Dorson. It states that, "...what we have here (Crow Killer) is the skeletal biography of a Rocky Mountain trapper and Indian fighter in the middle decades of the nineteenth century retold primarily on the basis of word-of-mouth sources." (italics mine). (3)

It is agreed that verbal exchanges and personal interviews can indeed help in fleshing out the skeletal biography of a man like Johnston. However, the problem lies in the fact that all we have are the authors’ written records and their personal interpretation of the exploits and activities of Johnston. It is now time to discuss the many inaccuracies found in the book, Crow Killer, and to lay to rest the legends that have surrounded Johnston since his death in 1900.

UNRAVELING THE MYTHS

In order to uncover the myths that yet surround the life of Johnston, it is necessary to evaluate the source of those myths – Thorpe and Bunker’s Crow Killer novel. Following is a discussion of the primary myths that created the legendary life of Johnston. Other myths exist, but are inconsequential and have been inserted into this discussion. Therefore, this author will focus on the myths that most contributed to the question marks inherent in Johnston’s story.

The evidence employed to refute the myths found within the pages of Thorpe and Bunkers’ book come from legitimate sources that can be found in the bibliography in the back of this book. In order to facilitate understanding, this author has extracted the actual myths about Johnston found in the Crow Killer book and presented them below. Also displayed is a discussion of the actual historical truth that debunks each myth. The following summary includes the specific page in the Crow Killer book wherein the myths can be found.

A LISTING OF MYTHS

MYTH # 1 .JOHNSTON MARRIED A FLATHEAD WOMAN NAMED THE SWAN

Page 21: One May morning in 1847, Crow Indians killed and scalped John Johnston’s pregnant wife; for many years thereafter, he killed and scalped Crow Indians he ate their livers, raw. (4) Reality: According to Johnston’s June 12, 1884 military pension records (5) Johnston was in the Navy. Other credible sources confirm Johnston’s Mexican War experience. Rex Bundy, (6) J.X. Beidler,