page_title: Olive Oatman
hierarchical_section_title: Olive Oatman
caption_attribution_description: en:Olive Oatman 1838–1903, by Benjamin F. Powelson (1823–1885), Albumen silver print, c. 1863, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: Olive Ann Oatman was a woman born in Illinois. In 1851, while traveling from Illinois to California with a company of Mormon Brewsterites, the family was attacked by a small group from a Native American tribe. Though she identified them as Apache, they were most likely Tolkepayas. They clubbed many to death, left brother Lorenzo for dead, and enslaved Olive and her younger sister, Mary Ann. The two were captive for one year and then traded to the Mohave people. While Lorenzo exhaustively attempted to recruit governmental help in searching for them, Mary Ann died from starvation and Olive spent four years with the Mohave.
  Five years after the attack, she was repatriated into American society. The story of the Oatman Massacre began to be retold with dramatic license in the press, as well as in her own memoir and speeches. Novels, plays, movies, and poetry were inspired, which resonated in the media of the time and long afterward. She had become an oddity in 1860s America, partly owing to the prominent blue tattooing of her face by the Mohave, making her the first known white woman with Native tattoo on record.
context_section_description: Olive Ann Oatman (September 7, 1837 – March 21, 1903) was a woman born in Illinois. In 1851, while traveling from Illinois to California with a company of Mormon Brewsterites, the family was attacked by a small group from a Native American tribe. Though she identified them as Apache, they were most likely Tolkepayas (Western Yavapai). They clubbed many to death, left brother Lorenzo for dead, and enslaved Olive and her younger sister, Mary Ann. The two were captive for one year and then traded to the Mohave people. While Lorenzo exhaustively attempted to recruit governmental help in searching for them, Mary Ann died from starvation and Olive spent four years with the Mohave.
  Five years after the attack, she was repatriated into American society. The story of the Oatman Massacre began to be retold with dramatic license in the press, as well as in her own memoir and speeches.  Novels, plays, movies, and poetry were inspired, which resonated in the media of the time and long afterward. She had become an oddity in 1860s America, partly owing to the prominent blue tattooing of her face by the Mohave, making her the first known white woman with Native tattoo on record. Much of what actually occurred during her time with the Native Americans remains unknown.
  The town of Oatman, Arizona is named after the Oatman family and the massacre which occurred therein.
caption: Olive Oatman c. 1863
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