We interrupt our current mystery--which itself is interrupting our main mystery, discovering the builders of the infamous Kay's Cross--to bring you a fascinating story of a Mormon pioneer girl who spent years living with Native American people in Arizona.
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| Olive Oatman, 1838–1903, by Benjamin F. Powelson (1823–1885), Albumen silver print, c. 1863, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. |
En route the party split up and the Oatman family ended up traveling alone through Arizona, where they encountered and were attacked by a local Native American tribe, most likely the Yavapai.
Most of the family was killed, but two young girls were taken by the Yavapais. A brother, Lorenzo, was left for dead but recovered and made his way back to Yuma.
The year with the Yavapai was not very pleasant for Olive and Mary Ann--they were treated as slaves.
But a year later the Yavapai traded the the girls to a Mohave group. Mental Floss picks up Olive and Mary Ann's story from there:
[O]nce the girls were on Mohave land . . Mary Ann and Olive were taken in straight away by the family of a tribal leader, Espanesay, and adopted as members of the community. To prove it, both children had their chins and upper arms tattooed with blue cactus ink in thick lines, like everybody else in the tribe, to ensure that they’d be recognized as tribal members in the afterlife and—interestingly, in this case—reunited with their ancestors.
The scenery was upgraded, too; the Mohave village was located in an idyllic valley lined with cottonwoods and willows, set along the Colorado River. No longer slaves, they were not forced to work, and “did pretty much as they pleased,” according to an 1856 newspaper account. They were also given land and seeds to raise their own crops. The two sisters were also given their clan’s name, Oach, and they formed strong bonds with the wife and daughter of their adopted family, Aespaneo and Topeka, respectively. For the rest of her life, Olive spoke of the two women with great affection, saying that she and Mary Ann were raised by Espanesay and Aespaneo as their own daughters.
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| Page from R.B. Strattion's 1858 Captivity of the Oatman Girls |
The girls seemingly considered themselves assimilated Mohaves, so much so that, in February of 1854, approximately 200 white railroad surveyors spent a week with the Mohaves as part of the Whipple Expedition, trading and socializing, and neither Olive nor Mary Ann revealed herself as an abductee or asked the men for help. (The girls, unaware that their brother Lorenzo survived the attack in 1851, may have believed they had no living relatives, which could have added another incentive for them to stick with the tribe.)It is worth remembering, reading the contemporary account below and the Mental Floss summary, that an abduction story of this kind was ripe for lurid sensationalism and inevitably seen through the eyes of European settlers.
The "woman abducted and held captive by natives" narrative was a common one on the American frontier, in both books and newspapers. Those who wrote about Oatman at the time--and probably Oatman herself--saw her experiences through that lens.
As Olive Oatman's Wikipedia article says:
In subsequent years, the tale of Oatman came to be retold with dramatic license in the press, in her own "memoir" and speeches, novels, plays, movies, and poetry. The story resonated in the media of the time and long afterward, partly owing to the prominent blue tattooing of Oatman's face by the Mohave. Much of what actually occurred during her time with the Native Americans remains unknown.Given that, it is one of the few extensive first-hand accounts by a European settler living with the Native American tribes in this part of the country, and worth considering, even if through a lense we know is distorted.
Below is the article about Olive Oatman in the Sacramento Daily Union, 25 April 1856:
Olive Oatman, the Apache Captive
So much interest has been manifested in the story of the captivity of Olive Oatman, that we visited her a few days since, when she gave us an intelligible account of her adventures, which is here embodied. This account we obtained only by asking questions, as her timidity and want of confidence prevented her from giving the details unassisted. Her faculties have been somewhat impaired by her way of life, but her friends assured us that in the short time she has been among them she has made very perceptible improvement.
Olive has found good friends at the Monte, in the families of Mr. Ira Thompson and Mr. David Lewis, and is regarded and treated as a member of their families.
The Oatmans started from lowa in company with the family of Mr. Thompson, with whom they traveled together as far as Tueson, in Sonora, when Mr. T. resolved to lay by to recruit his cattle and wait for other trains to come up, so as to insure the safety of the road by numbers. But the Oatmans pushed on, impatient to get through, and met their fate on the Gila, about two hundred miles from the Colorado. While at Tucson, the Thompsons had many opportunities of noticing the terror which the Apaches excited in the people. One evening a Spanish woman arrived in the village, saying she had just escaped from the Tonto Apaches, where she had been a prisoner. She related that a day or two before, the band returned to camp from killing and plundering a party of Americans, and also bringing in prisoners. She was left alone with the threat that if she attempted to escape she would be killed. That night while they were dancing the war dance, she escaped and returned to Tueson. By comparing dates they were satisfied this was the band that attacked the Oatmans. Inquiries were made at the time, but nothing could be learned concerning the captives.
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| Carte de Visite of Olive Oatman 1838–1903, by Benjamin F. Powelson, 58 State St, Rochester, NY (source) |
Olive is rather a pretty girl, with a skin as fair as most persons who have crossed the plains. Her face is disfigured by tattooed lines on the chin, running obliquely and perpendicularly from her mouth. Here arms were also marked in a similar manner by one straight line on each. The operation consisted in puncturing the skin and rubbing a dye or pulverized charcoal into the wounds.
It was about sunset when the attack was made, which resulted in the capture of herself and her little sister, Mary Ann. Olive was thirteen, and Mary Ann seven years of age. The Indians stripped her of her shoes and nearly all her clothing — her sister had no shoes on at the time — and they started off with the speed of horses in a northerly direction, into a mountainous region. They traveled all night without resting. At noon next day they stopped a few minutes to breathe, and then hurried on again until nightfall, when they came into camp. She thinks they traveled a hundred miles. She was barefoot, and the sharp stones lacerated her feet, and her blood sprinkled the whole distance. Whenever she lagged, they would come behind and beat her, to urge her on. Her sister soon gave out, but being small, the Indians carried her in their arms. The reason of their hurrying on so rapidly was fear lest they might be pursued.
The clothes left to her were worn out, and fell from her back in two weeks, and then she matted together the bark of trees, and tied it around her person like the Indians. It was a slight covering, but it did not leave her entirely exposed.
Among these Apaches, Olive supposes they remained one year. At any rate, the same kind of season returned as that when she arrived. Time among the Indians is not noted. If they note it at all, is only by moons. The country was mountainous, and barren of grass or timber. The Indians live in the small valleys. The girls were treated cruelly by these Indians. They were overtasked, and when they could not understand what was said to them, they were beaten. There was no timber nor running stream. The only fuel to be had was scattered sage bushes, and when it rained, the water would collect in the holes of the rocks, and these two little girls were compelled to pack all the wood and water from long distances upon their backs. They felt themselves to be slaves. The Indians told them they should never see their friends again, and concealed them as much as possible. There was no snow, but they suffered from cold in the winter.
The Mohaves and Apaches were friends, and sometimes visited each other. It was during one of these visits that the Mohaves learned of the captives, and offered to purchase them. The Apaches consented, and received in exchange a few pounds of beads, two horses and two blankets. They were ten days traveling "like horses," as she describes it, to the Mohave villages, barefoot and over a rough, mountainous country, each day stopping a short time at noon to rest, she thinks they traveled 350 miles in a northwest direction.
On this journey they eat nothing until the fourth day, when they received a piece of meat about as large as her hand, and this kept them alive. There were no roots nor berries, and they dared not ask the Indians for food. The Indians would kill such game as came in their way, but they did not offer it to their captives. She describes them as being too lazy to exert themselves to procure food, and only killing such game as chance brought to them. Her days had thus far been dark, and she was almost ready to despair. Not an act of kindness nor a word of sympathy or hope had been addressed to her by her captors, who treated her and her sister as slaves.
Arrived among the Mohave, the Chief, whom she calls Espanesay, took them into his own family, and they were treated in every respect as his own children. Two blankets were given to them for covering; food was divided with them; they were not obliged to labor, and did pretty much as they pleased. Lands were allotted to them, and they were furnished with seeds and raised their own corn, melons and beans, as the Indians did.
There is little or no rain at the Colorado, and the Mohaves depend upon the overflow of the river for the irrigation necessary to germinate and ripen their harvests. Sometimes there is no overflow of the river, and much suffering follows. The Indians are too indolent to plant more than will suffice for their actual necessities. Three years ago there was no overflow, and a famine was the consequence, in which many perished. It was in this famine that Olive suffered her greatest grief. Her little sister, Mary Ann, had endured all her captivity with her. They supposed that they were alone of their family; they had suffered together the cruelties of the savages; but they had not been separated. They could sympathise and cheer each other in their dreariness, and sometimes they would whisper together a faint hope of future redemption. But now came the trial. The child wasted away by degrees; she knew that she was to die, and talked calmly of death to Olive. She had no disease; but there was no food; and she wasted miserably in the famine that desolated the tribe. Olive herself was near perishing, but the strength of her constitution saved her life.
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| Page from R.B. Strattion's 1858 Captivity of the Oatman Girls |
She speaks of the Chief's wife in terms of the warmest gratitude. A mother could not have expressed more kind hearted sympathy than did this good woman, whose gentle treatment saved her life. This woman had laid up seed corn to plant, and which even the dying groans of her own people could not make her bring out. When she saw Olive's distress she ground this corn between stones, made a gruel, and fed it to her, not reserving any even to herself.
The Mohaves always told her she could go to the white settlements when she pleased, but they dared not go with her, fearing they might be punished for having kept a white woman so long among them; nor did they dare to let it be known that she was among them. She could not go alone, for she did not know the way, and she despaired of ever again seeing her friends. Hope almost died within her. For three long years she mourned her captivity ; though well treated, she was restrained, for she knew not how to extricate herself. What were her sensations during all this time must be imagined, for she is not as yet able to express her thoughts in language.
Before the arrival of the Indian messenger charged to release her, she heard of his departure from the Fort, by an Indian runner. Her joy was very great, but she forced herself to appear indifferent, lest the Indians should still restrain her. She had little confidence in their sincerity, when they gave her permission to leave them, because they refused to go with her, and they knew she could not go alone.
At length, Francisco, the Yuma, arrived with the requisition from Col. Burke for her delivery. The packet was examined by the Indians, but no one understood it. It was put into her hands to explain. It was written in a bold round hand, the letters being a third of an inch long. It was the first word of English she had seen for five long, weary years, and she could not restrain her emotion. The cold chill of Indian reserve seemed to melt away, and she saw before her mind the old home scenes; and happy voices seemed to welcome her return. She readily deciphered the meaning of that rescript, and communicated it to the assembled Indians. Accompanying it were six pounds of white beads, four blankets, and some other trinkets, to be given in exchange. These were accepted, and the Chief told her she was at liberty to depart for her friends. Many of the Indians, however, objected to her going, fearing they would be punished as her captors. The Chief's wife, the kind woman who saved her life in the famine, cried a day and a night as if she were losing her own child, and then gave her up. With the guide she started for the Fort with a light heart, on foot, as usual. She was ten days on the road, traveling with greater speed than ever before. This time the days were short to her, and so great was her mental excitement, that she knew neither weariness nor hunger. The trail was tortuous and rough, leading through mountains and gorges, and several times she was compelled to swim the Colorado. This time, too, her feet were protected from the sharp stones by sandals, such as are worn by the Indians.
During all her captivity she does not remember to have seen a wild flower or shrub. If there were any her mind was so absorbed with her own misery that she did not observe them. Among the Mohaves there is no food except what is raided—that is, corn, wheat, melons and beans. A few fish are caught from the river, a small bulb, resembling a bordeia, is taken from the ground, which is boiled or roasted. This bulb is almost tasteless, and is found in such small quantities that a whole day is required to gather enough for a meal. There are no berries or fruit trees of any kind.
The Yumas and Mohaves are friends. Their manners, customs and dress are the same, and their lodges are built upon the same plan. Their language, also, is similar—they easily understand each other. The two tribes last year made war upon the Cocupas, and took several prisoners. When they arrived at their villages the prisoners were killed, and the dead bodies suspended on a crucifix, while the whole tribe danced round the pole, singing and throwing arrows into the bodies.
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| Olive Oatman, 1857 Tintype portrait, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (source) |
She converses with propriety, but as one acting under strong constraint; and she has not forgotten the instructions of her childhood. She reads well, writes a fair hand, and sews admirably; though in her captivity she saw no implement nor instrument of civilization. She is very ambitious to learn, and spends most of her time in study.True West magazine takes the time to debunk 10 Myths about Olive Oatman, including:
1 – Her captors were Apaches.Note that these are all myths--at least partially incorrect for one reason or another. Read the full article to find out the details.
2 – The rest of the Oatman family was killed in the massacre.
3 – She was a slave to the Mohave.
4 – She wore a tattoo that marked her as a captive.
5 – Her Mohave nickname was Olivia.
6 – She wanted to leave the Mohave but had no opportunity for escape.
7 – She married a Mohave and had Mohave children.
8 – She hated the Mohave Indians.
9 – She lived happily after her ransom.
10 – She died in an insane asylum.
More information about Olive Oatman:
- The History of American Women blog has a nice writeup on Oatman
- Untethered Text: The Rise and Fall of Olive Oatman by Brenna Casey
- Full text of R.B. Stratton's 1858 Captivity of the Oatman Girls written by Stratton and based on interviews with Olive Oatman
- Margot Mifflin's 2009 book The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman includes extensive research on Oatman and related topics
