Olive Oatman
Olive Oatman (* 1837 in Illinois ; † March 20, 1903 in Sherman ) was kidnapped by Indians as a girl in Arizona and freed five years later.
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Life
The trip
Olive Oatman was one of seven children of the Mormon couple Royce and Mary Ann Oatman, who married in 1832.
Since the father could no longer work as a farmer due to an accident, he decided to move to New Mexico with his family . He joined a Mormon trek in 1850, which split up based on differences of opinion. The Oatmans, along with others, decided to take the southern route. At the beginning of 1851 they reached New Mexico. But Mexico also turned out to be unsuitable for the family due to the climate, and so they moved on to California .
At Maricopa Wells the trek reached hostile Indian territory. Most families stayed and settled there as advised. The Oatmans, however, moved on, presumably alone.
The Oatman massacre
On the fourth day, on February 18, 1851, near the Gila River , about 140 kilometers east of Yuma , the family met a group of Indians who asked for tobacco, food and weapons. During this encounter, the Oatmans were ambushed. The parents and four children were killed. Thirteen-year-old Olive, seven-year-old sister Mary Ann, and fifteen-year-old Lorenzo survived. Olive later identified the Indians as presumably Tonto Apache, although it is also conceivable that they were West Yavapai or Tolkepayas.
The girls were abducted. Lorenzo was injured because he was thought to be dead. He dragged himself to the nearest settlement where he was taken care of. The dead were found three days later and buried under a pile of stones.
Kidnapping and imprisonment
With the Indians, the girls had to do slave labor such as carrying wood and water. Because they had difficulties communicating, they were often beaten. A year later, a group of Mohave Indians came to trade with the kidnappers. They also exchanged the two girls for two horses, vegetables and blankets. In several day's marches they made the way to the Mohave camp, today near the town of Needles .
The girls were well received by the leader's family. They were given a piece of land to till and were dressed in the Mohave style. However, it is unclear whether they were actually considered family members. Apparently both girls considered themselves prisoners and did not dare to flee. When a large group of whites visited the Mohave, they made no contact. Many years later, when Olive met a Mohave leader in New York, they were talking about their time with the Indians. As time went on, Olive portrayed her imprisonment less and less positively. It cannot be ruled out that Stockholm Syndrome was responsible for the initially positive statements .
Both Oatman girls were tattooed on their chins and arms. The tattoo was a sign of tribal affiliation and was intended to provide security during the transition into the afterlife, so it was not a branding as a slave.
Probably in 1855 there was a great famine. In addition to numerous members of her people, Mary Ann, then ten or eleven, also starved to death.
The Liberation
The rumor that a young white woman lived with the Mohave had spread in the region. When Olive was nineteen, an Indian messenger from the Fort Yuma government came to the village and requested Olive's release. After lengthy negotiations, in which Olive was also involved, she was released on February 28, 1856 in exchange for blankets and horses. Topeka, the daughter of the couple who took in Olive, accompanied her on the 20-day trip to Fort Yuma. Before entering the fort, Olive, who was only dressed in a traditional grass skirt, asked first of all for suitable clothing. Then inside she was received with jubilation.
After a few days she met her brother Lorenzo again, who had looked for her and her sister without success. The news of this reunion quickly spread in the media.
After the liberation
In 1857, Pastor Royal B. Stratton wrote the book Captivity of the Oatman Girls: Being an Interesting Narrative of Life among the Apache and Mohave Indians , which sold 30,000 copies, which was a bestseller. The proceeds of the sale were used to pay for Olive and Lorenzo Oatman's college education at the University of the Pacific . In 1858 the Oatman siblings moved to New York with Stratton. In order to boost sales, Olive went on lecture tours and shared her experiences with the Indians.
In November 1865 Olive married the rancher John Brant Fairchild (1830–1907), who became a wealthy banker. The couple lived in Detroit for seven years and then moved to Sherman, Texas. In 1876 they adopted a girl, Mary "Mamie" Elizabeth (1874–1913). Olive suffered recurring post-traumatic stress disorders such as debilitating headaches and depression.
On March 21, 1903, Olive Oatman died of a heart attack at the age of 66. She was buried in West Hill Cemetery, Sherman. In Arizona, the city of Oatman is named after her. Her brother Lorenzo died on October 8, 1901.
Movie
In the American TV series Hell on Wheels , Olive Oatman is the role model for the prostitute Eva Toole. She is played by Robin McLeavy . Eva's circumstances in the film have nothing to do with Olive Oatman other than the Native American abduction and tattoo.
literature
- Royal B. Stratton: Captivity of the Oatman Girls: Being an Interesting Narrative of Life among the Apache and Mohave Indians. (English)
- Brian McGinty: The Oatman Massacre: A Tale of Desert Captivity and Survival. 2006 ( ISBN 0-8061-3667-7 ). (English)
- Margot Mifflin: The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman. (Women in the West), 2011, ISBN 978-0-8032-1148-3 . (English)
- Leo Banks: Stalwart Women: Frontier Stories of Indomitable Spirit. ( ISBN 0-916179-77-X ) (English)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ OLIVE OATMAN in womenhistoryblog.com
- ↑ TSHA Texas day by day
- ^ The Oatman Massacre: A Tale of Desert Captivity and Survival.
- ↑ dailymail.co.uk
- ↑ Blogs amctv
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Oatman, olive |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American prisoners of Indians, later freed |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1837 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 20, 1903 |
| Place of death | Sherman |