You probably know the face. It’s Robert Redford, bearded and frostbitten, giving that iconic, slow-motion nod of approval that has lived on as a meme for a decade. But honestly, if you walked up to the real man in a Montana saloon in 1880 and called him "Jeremiah," he’d probably stare at you like you’d lost your mind. He never went by that name. Not once.
The 1972 movie Jeremiah Johnson is a masterpiece of atmospheric filmmaking, but it’s basically a tall tale built on top of a legend, which was itself built on a very messy, very violent reality. The real guy was John Johnston (often spelled Johnson). He was a deserting sailor, a whiskey peddler, and a man who supposedly ate the livers of his enemies to send a message.
Whether he actually chewed on human organs or just had a really dark sense of humor is still debated by historians today.
The Man Behind the Mountain Man
John Johnston wasn’t born in the Rockies. He was born John Garrison in 1924, way out in New Jersey. He grew up in a rough household with a father who wasn't exactly winning any parenting awards. Seeking an escape, he hit the seas.
He was a sailor. He hunted whales. Eventually, he joined the Navy during the Mexican-American War. That didn't last long, though. Garrison had a bit of a temper—something that would define his entire life—and he reportedly "knocked the snot out of" a superior officer.
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Desertion was a serious crime. To disappear, he ditched his last name, moved West, and became John Johnston.
He was huge for the time. Standing about 6'2" and weighing around 250 pounds, he was a giant in an era when the average man was barely 5'6". He wasn't some soft-spoken philosopher seeking peace with nature like Redford’s character. He was a "woodhawk," a guy who cut timber to sell to steamboats, which was one of the most dangerous and grueling jobs on the frontier.
Why They Called Him the Liver-Eater
The "Jeremiah Johnson" most people search for is the one driven by a blood vendetta. The story goes that Johnston married a woman from the Flathead tribe. He left her at their cabin for the winter to go trapping, and when he returned, he found her murdered by a Crow hunting party.
The legend says he spent the next 20 years hunting Crow warriors. He didn't just kill them; he reportedly cut out their livers and ate them.
Why the liver? According to Crow belief at the time, the liver was essential to enter the afterlife. By consuming it, Johnston wasn't just ending their life on earth—he was supposedly deleting their eternity.
Fact vs. Folklore
Historians like Nathan Bender have dug into this, and the truth is... complicated. Some primary sources suggest Johnston was actually still serving in the military when this "vengeance" was supposedly happening. There's also a famous story where he was captured by the Blackfoot, chewed through his leather ties, killed a guard, cut off the guard's leg, and used it as "trail mix" to survive a 200-mile trek through the snow.
If you ask the old-timers from Red Lodge, Montana, they might tell you he admitted the whole liver-eating thing was a joke that got out of hand. One account says he was in a skirmish with Sioux warriors, and a piece of liver accidentally stuck to his knife. He made a joke about eating it to freak people out, and the nickname stuck for life.
The Movie vs. The History
Sydney Pollack’s film is beautiful, but it sanitizes the man. In the movie, Johnson is a world-weary veteran looking for solitude. He’s a "pastoral figure."
The real Johnston was more of a "get-it-done" survivalist. He was a gold seeker in Alder Gulch. He was a sharpshooter for the Union Army in the Civil War. Later in life, he even served as a deputy sheriff in Coulson and a town marshal in Red Lodge. He wasn't hiding from civilization; he was often the one enforcing its rules.
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He even joined a Wild West show for a bit, traveling with Calamity Jane and leaning into the very legends he helped create. He knew how to sell a story.
What Happened to the Real Johnson?
Life in the wild eventually caught up to him. By 1899, the "Crow Killer" was old, broke, and sick. He ended up in a veterans' home in Santa Monica, California. He died in 1900 and was buried in a Los Angeles cemetery—the last place a mountain man would ever want to be.
In 1974, a group of seventh-graders and their teacher in California decided that wasn't right. They campaigned to have his body moved. Robert Redford actually served as a pallbearer when they reburied him in Cody, Wyoming.
His tombstone reads: "No More Trails."
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you want to dive deeper into the real story without the Hollywood filter, here’s how to navigate the lore:
- Check the Source: Most of the "Liver-Eating" gore comes from the 1958 book Crow Killer by Thorp and Bunker. It’s a great read, but historians consider it about 90% fiction.
- Visit the Cabin: You can actually see the cabin Johnston lived in during the 1880s. It was moved to the tourism office in Red Lodge, Montana.
- Read the Records: If you're into genealogy or land history, the Bureau of Land Management (GLO) has the actual homestead patent for his 160 acres in Montana. It’s one of the few pieces of hard evidence we have that isn't a campfire story.
The next time you see that nodding meme, just remember: the real guy was a Jersey-born sailor who probably would have laughed his head off at the idea of being a sensitive movie hero.
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To see the real artifacts from his life, including the types of rifles he actually used, your best bet is to plan a trip to the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, Wyoming.