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  • Home
  • About
  • Hunting
    • Guns
      • Best Cartridges for North American Big Game Hunting
      • Yes, I Do Teach My Kids to Shoot Guns…Here’s Why
      • The Best Youth Rifles for Deer and Big Game
      • How to Clean a Hunting Rifle: A Step-by-Step Guide
    • Hunting and Acute Mountain Sickness (Altitude Sickness): Signs, Symptoms, and Avoidance 
    • Randy Newberg: Here’s How to Hunt Elk Out West On Your Own
    • Luck of the Draw: How to Apply for Hunting Tags  
    • When, Where, and How to Find Shed Antlers
    • Chuck Adams: Interview With the World’s Greatest Bowhunter
    • Peer Pressure: How to Deal with Social Media and Hunting Season 
    • The Biggest Whitetail Deer in the Record Book: In Photos
    • The Biggest Moose Ever on Record: In Photos
    • How to Score a Deer
    • Cool Story, Bro: How to Write a Hunting Story
    • 10 Best Books on Hunting
    • The Hunter’s Guide to Preventing Tick and Mosquito Bites 
    • How to Make Perfect Deer Jerky the Easy Way
    • Wild Game Recipe: Venison Enchilada Meatballs
    • How to Keep Wild Game Meat Clean in the Field
  • Fishing
    • Your Guide to a Surviving a Family Fishing Trip 
    • How to Fish for Trout in Alpine Lakes
    • Fishing for Moose at Hachet Lake Lodge, Saskatchewan
    • Best Fishing Books and Stories Ever
    • How to Catch Trout in A River
  • Legends
    • Marie Dorion: Tough Momma of Willamette Valley
    • African American Mountain Man James Beckwourth
    • George Drouillard—Lewis and Clark’s Backcountry Renaissance Man
    • Montana Pioneer Woman Stagecoach Mary Fields
    • Hugh Glass: The Real Revenant Badass
    • The Surly Life of Jeremiah “Livereatin’ ” Johnson
    • John Wesley Powell: Badass Explorer of the Grand Canyon
    • John Colter: First White Dude to See Yellowstone’s Hell on Earth
    • Who Was Mountain Man Jim Bridger?
    • African American Mountain Man James Beckwourth
    • Jedediah Smith: Grizzly Wrestling Champion of the World
    • Andrew Garcia: Montana’s Last Best Mountain Man
  • The Wild Life
    • Kids
      • Epic Outdoor Books for Kids
      • The Reality of Skiing With Kids—Is it Worth it? 
      • Six Tips for a Family Fishing Trip in the Florida Keys
      • How to Get Kids Outside…Montana Edition
      • Yes, I Do Teach My Kids to Shoot Guns…Here’s Why
      • Don’t Do This When Fishing with Kids
    • Travel
      • Why You Should Never Go to Yellowstone National Park 
      • Bozeman, Montana: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Mountain Town
      • Maui Guide: Five Essential Tips to Know Before You Go 
      • 20 Questions About Puerto Rico…Answered 
      • Patillas, Puerto Rico: A Guide to the Perfect Day
    • Why an Overnight River Trip Is the Ultimate Summer Adventure
    • Squirrel Warriors: The Art of Tiny Taxidermy 
    • Five Ways to Keep Your Off-grid Cabin Secure
    • Chef Kristy Crabtree on Cooking with Wild Game
    • Cure Cabin Fever by Renting a Forest Service Cabin
    • #Buglife
    • Picking Huckleberries in Montana: A Guide with Easy Recipes
    • Load Up With Royal Tine: Montana’s Hunting Guide School
    • The Best Dog Mushing in Montana
  • Conservation
    • Back from the Dead: Montana Bighorn Sheep Restoration
    • Montana’s Bighorn Sheep Tags: Big Horns, Big Money
    • Montana’s Love Affair with Invasive Species
    • The Mission Mountain Wilderness Divide
  • Gear
    • Five Father’s Day Gifts Under $100…and they don’t suck
    • How to Clean Leather Boots in 30 Minutes
    • Muck’s Apex Pro Vibram Arctic Grip Boot: An Honest Review 
    • Best Cartridges for North American Big Game Hunting
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Home Legends

The Surly Life of Jeremiah Johnson

by PJ DelHomme
in Legends
Mountain man Jeremiah Johnson

When you’re this tough, bad hair day is everyday.

     1824-1900

As a boy, I watched the 1972 classic movie, “Jeremiah Johnson” until the tape eventually got stuck in the VCR. The movie is very loosely based on the life of John Garrison, whose life is an even greater bundle of lore, fantasy and downright fairytale—with much of it taking place in the Montana Territory. The stories that make up Garrison’s life are the pinnacle of mountain man mythology. 

Early life

We do know that Garrison was born in New Jersey to a surly, alcoholic father who worked his six children to the bone. To escape this life, Garrison worked on a schooner hunting whales for more than a decade. After enlisting in the Navy, he knocked the snot out of an officer and fled west once he got his shore leave back. Because he deserted, he changed his name to Johnston. And that’s when the tales emerge. 

Road to Vengeance

The best-known tale (and how he got his nickname) centers on his quest for vengeance. Legend has it that Johnston married the Swan, daughter of a Flathead Chief. Johnston left his bride and unborn child behind one winter to trap and returned to find them murdered by the Crow. He went on to kill dozens of Crow warriors, carving out and eating the livers of his foes. When the Blackfeet captured him for the bounty the Crow had put on his head, he chewed through his rawhide handcuffs, beat up a guard, cut off the guard’s leg and used it as trail mix on his long road to vengeance. Then again, some documents reveal Johnston was still serving in the Navy when his revenge took place. Either way, we do know he moved to Coulson, Montana (now Billings) to work as a deputy sheriff. He built a cabin in the woods near Red Lodge to live out all but the last year of his life. He died in 1900 at the National Soldier’s Home in Santa Monica, California. 

Classic 1972 Trailer to Jeremiah Johnson…the Movie

Wild Facts about Jeremiah Johnston

Dorman Nelson is a writer who has been researching John Liver-Eating Johnson since 1970. He contacted me after reading this post and offered a few new bits of information/corrections.

  • He is related to Clint Eastwood.
  • He was known to be surly.
  • His name was not John, nor Jeremiah….or Johnston or Johnson.
  • He never had a wife. Nor born nor unborn.
  • He got out to Alder Gulch with the Beidler brothers in 1862.
  • He was in the Union Army.
  • He died in Sawtelle, California, in 1900.
  • He was great friends with the Crow.

Soundtrack to Jeremiah Johnson…the Movie

Read about equally awesome mountain lady Stagecoach Mary Fields.


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