Drove by this sign in rural north Jersey today. The story is pretty wild.
Johnson is said to have been born with the last name Garrison, in the area of the Hickory Tavern between Pattenburg and Little York, near the border of what is today Alexandriaand Union Townships in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
Rumors, legends, and campfire tales abound about Johnson. Perhaps chief among them is this one: in 1847, his wife, a member of the Flathead American Indian tribe, was killed by a young Crow brave and his fellow hunters, which prompted Johnson to embark on a vendetta against the tribe. According to historian Andrew Mehane Southerland, "He supposedly killed and scalped more than 300 Crow Indians and then devoured their livers" to avenge the death of the wife, and "As his reputation and collection of scalps grew, Johnson became an object of fear."
The legend says that he would cut out and eat the liver of each man killed. This was an insult to the Crow because the Crow believed the liver to be vital if one was to go on to the afterlife. This led to him being known as "Liver-Eating Johnson".
One tale ascribed to Johnson was of being ambushed by a group of Blackfootwarriors in the dead of winter on a foray to sell whiskey to his Flathead kin, a trip that would have been over five hundred miles. The Blackfoot planned 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 only one very inexperienced guard. Johnson managed to break through the straps. He then knocked out his young guard with a kick, took his knife and scalped him, and then quickly cut off one of his legs. He made his escape into the woods, surviving by eating the Blackfoot's leg, until he reached the cabin of Del Gue, his trapping partner, 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 25 years and scores of slain Crow warriors. The West, however, was still a very violent and territorial place, particularly during the Plains Indian Wars of the mid-19th century. Many more Indians of different tribes, especially but not limited to the Sioux and the Blackfoot, would know the wrath of "Dapiek Absaroka" (Crow killer) and his fellow mountain men.
Johnson is said to have been born with the last name Garrison, in the area of the Hickory Tavern between Pattenburg and Little York, near the border of what is today Alexandriaand Union Townships in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
Rumors, legends, and campfire tales abound about Johnson. Perhaps chief among them is this one: in 1847, his wife, a member of the Flathead American Indian tribe, was killed by a young Crow brave and his fellow hunters, which prompted Johnson to embark on a vendetta against the tribe. According to historian Andrew Mehane Southerland, "He supposedly killed and scalped more than 300 Crow Indians and then devoured their livers" to avenge the death of the wife, and "As his reputation and collection of scalps grew, Johnson became an object of fear."
The legend says that he would cut out and eat the liver of each man killed. This was an insult to the Crow because the Crow believed the liver to be vital if one was to go on to the afterlife. This led to him being known as "Liver-Eating Johnson".
One tale ascribed to Johnson was of being ambushed by a group of Blackfootwarriors in the dead of winter on a foray to sell whiskey to his Flathead kin, a trip that would have been over five hundred miles. The Blackfoot planned 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 only one very inexperienced guard. Johnson managed to break through the straps. He then knocked out his young guard with a kick, took his knife and scalped him, and then quickly cut off one of his legs. He made his escape into the woods, surviving by eating the Blackfoot's leg, until he reached the cabin of Del Gue, his trapping partner, 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 25 years and scores of slain Crow warriors. The West, however, was still a very violent and territorial place, particularly during the Plains Indian Wars of the mid-19th century. Many more Indians of different tribes, especially but not limited to the Sioux and the Blackfoot, would know the wrath of "Dapiek Absaroka" (Crow killer) and his fellow mountain men.
