fore either could turn upon him, smashed their heads together. It was the opinion of the bystanders that Johnston had broken their necks in his powerful grip even before the double impact; both heads lolled sidewise as Blackfoot and Shoshoni tribal police carried the dead warriors away.

Analysis:

Clearly, Johnson saw the tremendous advantage that kicking an opponent had, in that he set out to add them to his own arsenal of fighting techniques. By kicking his opponents with great speed and when they least expected it,

Perhaps one of the most influential yet little known historical facts about the utilization of the act of kicking in a genuine life and death situation comes to us not from the Far East, as one might expect, but from the Great Northwest Territories of the United States of America during the mid to late 1800’s. The man in question who utilized kicks to his advantage long before the average man had even really heard of kicking let alone trying it himself, was the famous or perhaps infamous mountain man, Jeremiah Johnson.

Now before I delve further into this historical figure and his documented fondness for kicking, let me forewarn you that the real Jeremiah Johnson bares little to no resemblance to the character portrayed by Robert Redford in the movie, which was based very loosely on his life. If any movie demands to be remade it is definitely this one.

I have taken relevant information on Johnson’s use of kicks in combat directly from the pages of the following book; Crow Killer by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker 1972 Signet Edition, and have followed it with my own analysis of what the author had written to perhaps grasp a better understanding of what kicks Johnson used and how he had used them.

As you read this, please remember that this is my professional analysis based upon the information supplied by the authors in their book.

Page # 19:

Johnston contrived to use his feet too, so swiftly and unexpectedly that no one seems ever to have found a defense. Throughout his life, he was able to set up each opponent for the kill by means of one powerful kick. Indians were demoralized by such tactics; perhaps their very fear and resentment of such an indignity made them less effective adversaries of the Killer who kicked. At the spring rendezvous on the Green in 1846, again with Del Gue as witness, Johnston’s kicks enabled him to kill two Indians at one time.

At one time he came upon a Blackfoot and a Shoshoni, tribal enemies for ages past, knives in hand, each circling for the kill. Straightening out the antagonists with a pair of tremendous kicks, Johnston seized both by their necks and, before either could turn upon him, smashed their heads together. It was the opinion of the bystanders that Johnston had broken their necks in his powerful grip even before the double impact; both heads lolled sidewise as Blackfoot and Shoshoni tribal police carried the dead warriors away.

Analysis:

Clearly, Johnson saw the tremendous advantage that kicking an opponent had, in that he set out to add them to his own arsenal of fighting techniques. By kicking his opponents with great speed and when they least expected it, J

I delve further into this historical figure and his documented fondness for kicking, let me forewarn you that the real Jeremiah Johnson bares little to no resemblance to the character portrayed by Robert Redford in the movie, which was based very loosely on his life. If any movie demands to be remade it is definitely this one.

I have taken relevant information on Johnson’s use of kicks in combat directly from the pages of the following book; Crow Killer by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker 1972 Signet Edition, and have followed it with my own analysis of what the author had written to perhaps grasp a better understanding of what kicks Johnson used and how he had used them.

As you read this, please remember that this is my professional analysis based upon the information supplied by the authors in their book.

Page # 19:

Johnston contrived to use his feet too, so swiftly and unexpectedly that no one seems ever to have found a defense. Throughout his life, he was able to set up each opponent for the kill by means of one powerful kick. Indians were demoralized by such tactics; perhaps their very fear and resentment of such an indignity made them less effective adversaries of the Killer who kicked. At the spring rendezvous on the Green in 1846, again with Del Gue as witness, Johnston’s kicks enabled him to kill two Indians at one time.

At one time he came upon a Blackfoot and a Shoshoni, tribal enemies for ages past, knives in hand, each circling for the kill. Straightening out the antagonists with a pair of tremendous kicks, Johnston seized both by their necks and, before either could turn upon him, smashed their heads together. It was the opinion of the bystanders that Johnston had broken their necks in his powerful grip even before the double impact; both heads lolled sidewise as Blackfoot and Shoshoni tribal police carried the dead warriors away.

Analysis:

Clearly, Johnson saw the tremendous advantage that kicking an opponent had, in that he set out to add them to his own arsenal of fighting techniques. By kicking his opponents with great speed and when they least expected it,

with my own analysis of what the author had written to perhaps grasp a better understanding of what kicks Johnson used and how he had used them.

As you read this, please remember that this is my professional analysis based upon the information supplied by the authors in their book.

Page # 19:

Johnston contrived to use his feet too, so swiftly and unexpectedly that no one seems ever to have found a defense. Throughout his life, he was able to set up each opponent for the kill by means of one powerful kick. Indians were demoralized by such tactics; perhaps their very fear and resentment of such an indignity made them less effective adversaries of the Killer who kicked. At the spring rendezvous on the Green in 1846, again with Del Gue as witness, Johnston’s kicks enabled him to kill two Indians at one time.

At one time he came upon a Blackfoot and a Shoshoni, tribal enemies for ages past, knives in hand, each circling for the kill. Straightening out the antagonists with a pair of tremendous kicks, Johnston seized both by their necks and, before either could turn upon him, smashed their heads together. It was the opinion of the bystanders that Johnston had broken their necks in his powerful grip even before the double impact; both heads lolled sidewise as Blackfoot and Shoshoni tribal police carried the dead warriors away.

Analysis:

Clearly, Johnson saw the tremendous advantage that kicking an opponent had, in that he set out to add them to his own arsenal of fighting techniques. By kicking his opponents with great speed and when they least expected it,

ns were demoralized by such tactics; perhaps their very fear and resentment of such an indignity made them less effective adversaries of the Killer who kicked. At the spring rendezvous on the Green in 1846, again with Del Gue as witness, Johnston’s kicks enabled him to kill two Indians at one time.

At one time he came upon a Blackfoot and a Shoshoni, tribal enemies for ages past, knives in hand, each circling for the kill. Straightening out the antagonists with a pair of tremendous kicks, Johnston seized both by their necks and, before either could turn upon him, smashed their heads together. It was the opinion of the bystanders that Johnston had broken their necks in his powerful grip even before the double impact; both heads lolled sidewise as Blackfoot and Shoshoni tribal police carried the dead warriors away.

Analysis:

Clearly, Johnson saw the tremendous advantage that kicking an opponent had, in that he set out to add them to his own arsenal of fighting techniques. By kicking his opponents with great speed and when they least expected it,

fore either could turn upon him, smashed their heads together. It was the opinion of the bystanders that Johnston had broken their necks in his powerful grip even before the double impact; both heads lolled sidewise as Blackfoot and Shoshoni tribal police carried the dead warriors away.

Analysis:

Clearly, Johnson saw the tremendous advantage that kicking an opponent had, in that he set out to add them to his own arsenal of fighting techniques. By kicking his opponents with great speed and when they least expected it, Johnson was able to use his kicks so effectively that his opponents were unable to physically defend against them, and at the same time were mentally demoralized by them. Johnson didn’t rely solely on the use of his kicks, but rather used them to “set-up” his opponents for the kill.

Page #40:

With the knife safely back in its sheath, he brought out bone needles and sinews and finely tanned buckskin strips, and set to making moccasins. One pair he fitted directly to his foot, but the next he measured to fit over the first. Kicking an adversary was more comfortable, he had discovered when he wore two pairs, the inner set with the buffalo hair turned in.

Analysis:

This may very well be the first documented case (in the United States) of an instep pad being made for the foot when kicking. As you well know, you can kick harder and your foot is better protected when kicking with shoes on your foot. Although, what Johnson used was moccasins, which are softer even than today’s sneakers, you can see that even then, he knew enough to make a double padded moccasin in order to protect his feet when kicking his opponents.

Page #44:

At last he heard a muffled obscenity, Johnson’s he thought, and a grunt in another voice. There was, mixed in with these sounds, the thud of moccasin brought heavily against flesh. Into the faint light still shed by a few smoldering embers there sailed, his rear quarters highest, a huge Crow warrior.

The warrior had no sooner scrambled to his feet than he found himself facing Johnson, come after him with extraordinary speed. He had time only to lift his tomahawk; before he could bring it down, another mighty kick from Johnson caught him in the groin, and the weapon fell from his hand. Johnson stepped in, and with what now seemed slow deliberation; buried his Bowie in the Crow’s chest; in fact, the entire action had taken only a few seconds.

This was an occasion, if there was ever to be one, for inquiry into Johnson’s feuding. Indeed Del secured that night an almost academic analysis of methods. First, there was the strategy of the kick to be explained