The name of John "Liver-Eating" Johnston has all but been forgotten in the dusty archives of the prominent frontiersmen during the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Johnston is little known in our generation, but was a major and noted pioneer in the Old West. A book written in the 1950's by Thorpe and Bunker entitled the Crow Killer provided a fictionalized account of the life of the true mountain man - John Johnston. Similarly, the 1972 movie Jeremiah Johnson, starring actor Robert Redford, introduced the world (albeit inaccurately) to the muted life of one the West's most enigmatic figures. Most people interested in the life of Johnston learned of him principally through the wonderfully-produced movie, Jeremiah Johnson. Sadly, the knowledge they gained of his life through this movie (and the book Crow Killer) was replete with exploits that were never actualized. My book, The Avenging Fury of the Plains, sets the record straight. I have spent eight years researching and writing the biography of John "Liver-Eating" Johnston. The rather bizarre "Liver-Eating" appellation was attached to his name because rumor had it that Johnston ate the livers of the Native Americans he killed in battle. It is also believed that Johnston had a vendetta against the Crow nation for murdering his pregnant wife. This, too, was nothing but fiction.
The true life of John Johnston is much more fascinating than is his fiction. Johnston served in the Civil War; the Indian Wars from 1853 to 1877 in various parts of the country; he was a gold miner; a whaler; whiskey peddler; deputy sheriff of two emerging towns in early Montana during the 1880's to 1890's; and he joined a Wild West Show in 1884 which rivaled Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Johnston was the victim of many physical ailments which eventually led to his death in January of 1900. Born in New Jersey in 1831, his true name was William Garrison. He changed his name to John Johnston when he struck an officer on board ship during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. He jumped ship and went AWOL, stepping his feet into San Francisco in about 1848. Johnston was sixty-nine years of age when he died in an old soldiers home in Los Angeles, California. His official cause of death was peritonitis. He is buried in Cody, Wyoming.
The name of John "Liver-Eating" Johnston has all but been forgotten in the dusty archives of the prominent frontiersmen during the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Johnston is little known in our generation, but was a major and noted pioneer in the Old West. A book written in the 1950's by Thorpe and Bunker entitled the Crow Killer provided a fictionalized account of the life of the true mountain man - John Johnston. Similarly, the 1972 movie Jeremiah Johnson, starring actor Robert Redford, introduced the world (albeit inaccurately) to the muted life of one the West's most enigmatic figures. Most people interested in the life of Johnston learned of him principally through the wonderfully-produced movie, Jeremiah Johnson. Sadly, the knowledge they gained of his life through this movie (and the book Crow Killer) was replete with exploits that were never actualized. My book, The Avenging Fury of the Plains, sets the record straight. I have spent eight years researching and writing the biography of John "Liver-Eating" Johnston. The rather bizarre "Liver-Eating" appellation was attached to his name because rumor had it that Johnston ate the livers of the Native Americans he killed in battle. It is also believed that Johnston had a vendetta against the Crow nation for murdering his pregnant wife. This, too, was nothing but fiction.
The true life of John Johnston is much more fascinating than is his fiction. Johnston served in the Civil War; the Indian Wars from 1853 to 1877 in various parts of the country; he was a gold miner; a whaler; whiskey peddler; deputy sheriff of two emerging towns in early Montana during the 1880's to 1890's; and he joined a Wild West Show in 1884 which rivaled Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Johnston was the victim of many physical ailments which eventually led to his death in January of 1900. Born in New Jersey in 1831, his true name was William Garrison. He changed his name to John Johnston when he struck an officer on board ship during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. He jumped ship and went AWOL, stepping his feet into San Francisco in about 1848. Johnston was sixty-nine years of age when he died in an old soldiers home in Los Angeles, California. His official cause of death was peritonitis. He is buried in Cody, Wyoming.
The Avenging Fury of the Plains John Liver Eating Johnston Exploding the Myths Discovering the Man
The Avenging Fury of the Plains John Liver Eating Johnston Exploding the Myths Discovering the Man
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940164800949 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dennis McLelland |
| Publication date: | 01/26/2021 |
| Sold by: | Smashwords |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 12 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |