Olive Oatman
By Clara Hildman, Maricopa County
Olive, daughter of Royce Oatman, was one of a family of seven, who on March 28, 1851, were attacked by Mohave-Apache Indians in a valley of the Gila River called Oatman Flat, about 120 miles east of Yuma. All but two girls and a boy were killed and buried near Burke's Station, about 11 miles northeast of Sentinel. Lorenzo, left for dead, made his way to safety. The girls taken captive and traded later to Mohaves, and taken to Mohave County on Bill Williams River. Mary Ann, the younger, died in captivity in 1852, and Olive was finally rescued in 1856, after five years of captivity and restored to her brother at Fort Yuma. The town of Oatman (Mohave County) is named for her. Also Oatman stage station on Yuma-Tucson road in 1879. Arizona Place Names, Page 306. Will C. Barnes, U. of A., 1935.
Will Robinson in "The Story of Arizona", The Berryhill Company, Phoenix, 1919, says: (pp. 107-8) Royse Oatman and family were members of a party of 50 emigrants who left Independence, Mo., in the summer of 1850, planning to form a colony in the fertile lands of the lower Colorado. When they reached the Pima villages, Feb. 16th, Oatman decided to push on with his family to Fort Yuma. While camped just below Gila Bend, he was visited by a party of Apaches asking for food. Notwithstanding the fact that it was given, they suddenly attacked and killed the father and mother with clubs. An infant child was also killed and a son, Lorenzo, 15, was clubbed and left for dead. A girl, Olive, aged 16, and Mary Ann, aged 7, were taken prisoners. Lorenzo, gained consciousness, managed to make his way back to the Pima villages. The girls were carried to the mountains in north central Arizona, where they were treated as slaves, and after about a year of captivity, were sold to a band of Mojaves, who took them to their haunts on the Colorado River. Here they seem to have been treated about the same as the other Mojave women. The younger girl died in captivity, but Olive was kept by the Mojaves until 1856, when Americans, hearing of her slavery, ransomed her and restored her to her brother. [ From Arizona Historical Review, page 61: "The government sent Olive (after rescue) to her uncle in California, Dr. Oatman, who lived in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County." Article written by Lieut. E. D. Tuttle]
Farish says in History of Arizona, Vol. 1, page. 258-262, that the Oatman girls were sold for two horses, a blanket or two, some vegetables and some beans, by the Tonto Apaches, who had held them in captivity for more than a year, to the Navajos.
Newspaper clippings in the McClintock library state that the girls suffered greatly from hunger (food seems to have been scarce) and cruelties, and even torture. The Navajos seem to have treated them about like their own squaws were treated. It is also stated that Olive married an Indian and had two daughters, and it is told (but not authenticated) that these two married Mexicans.
Farish also says (see above) that Olive was rescued by a man named Grinnell, who tricked the Indians into delivering her to him, and she was brought to Fort Yuma in 1856, and supplied with proper clothing by an officer's wife. Her face had been tattooed, and she had almost forgotten the English language. Her brother, then in Los Angeles, joined her and they went to live with an uncle in Oregon; afterwards went to school in Santa Clara Valley, thence to New York and Olive is said to have died in an insane asylum in that state in 1877.
Photographs of Olive Oatman after rescue, showing tattoo marks on her face are in existence. One, a daguerreotype, is in the state historian's office in Phoenix.
Olive, daughter of Royce Oatman, was one of a family of seven, who on March 28, 1851, were attacked by Mohave-Apache Indians in a valley of the Gila River called Oatman Flat, about 120 miles east of Yuma. All but two girls and a boy were killed and buried near Burke's Station, about 11 miles northeast of Sentinel. Lorenzo, left for dead, made his way to safety. The girls taken captive and traded later to Mohaves, and taken to Mohave County on Bill Williams River. Mary Ann, the younger, died in captivity in 1852, and Olive was finally rescued in 1856, after five years of captivity and restored to her brother at Fort Yuma. The town of Oatman (Mohave County) is named for her. Also Oatman stage station on Yuma-Tucson road in 1879. Arizona Place Names, Page 306. Will C. Barnes, U. of A., 1935.
Will Robinson in "The Story of Arizona", The Berryhill Company, Phoenix, 1919, says: (pp. 107-8) Royse Oatman and family were members of a party of 50 emigrants who left Independence, Mo., in the summer of 1850, planning to form a colony in the fertile lands of the lower Colorado. When they reached the Pima villages, Feb. 16th, Oatman decided to push on with his family to Fort Yuma. While camped just below Gila Bend, he was visited by a party of Apaches asking for food. Notwithstanding the fact that it was given, they suddenly attacked and killed the father and mother with clubs. An infant child was also killed and a son, Lorenzo, 15, was clubbed and left for dead. A girl, Olive, aged 16, and Mary Ann, aged 7, were taken prisoners. Lorenzo, gained consciousness, managed to make his way back to the Pima villages. The girls were carried to the mountains in north central Arizona, where they were treated as slaves, and after about a year of captivity, were sold to a band of Mojaves, who took them to their haunts on the Colorado River. Here they seem to have been treated about the same as the other Mojave women. The younger girl died in captivity, but Olive was kept by the Mojaves until 1856, when Americans, hearing of her slavery, ransomed her and restored her to her brother. [ From Arizona Historical Review, page 61: "The government sent Olive (after rescue) to her uncle in California, Dr. Oatman, who lived in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County." Article written by Lieut. E. D. Tuttle]
Farish says in History of Arizona, Vol. 1, page. 258-262, that the Oatman girls were sold for two horses, a blanket or two, some vegetables and some beans, by the Tonto Apaches, who had held them in captivity for more than a year, to the Navajos.
Newspaper clippings in the McClintock library state that the girls suffered greatly from hunger (food seems to have been scarce) and cruelties, and even torture. The Navajos seem to have treated them about like their own squaws were treated. It is also stated that Olive married an Indian and had two daughters, and it is told (but not authenticated) that these two married Mexicans.
Farish also says (see above) that Olive was rescued by a man named Grinnell, who tricked the Indians into delivering her to him, and she was brought to Fort Yuma in 1856, and supplied with proper clothing by an officer's wife. Her face had been tattooed, and she had almost forgotten the English language. Her brother, then in Los Angeles, joined her and they went to live with an uncle in Oregon; afterwards went to school in Santa Clara Valley, thence to New York and Olive is said to have died in an insane asylum in that state in 1877.
Photographs of Olive Oatman after rescue, showing tattoo marks on her face are in existence. One, a daguerreotype, is in the state historian's office in Phoenix.