Legends of the Old West - WOMEN OF THE WEST Ep. 2 | Olive Oatman: “The Survivor”

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

Olive Oatman endured a long, difficult wagon trip with her family from Illinois to Arizona Territory. Her wagon train was attacked by Apaches and she spent five years as a prisoner of the tribes of the Southwest. Near the end of her captivity, she was given the distinctive tattoos that made her famous. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join To advertise on this podcast, please email: [e-mail] For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please visit AirwaveMedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin’s World, Once Upon A Crime, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Join for free at Rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. At about 9 a.m. on the last day of February in 1856, a man named Henry Grinnell raced out of his quarters at Fort Yuma. He ran down to the edge of the nearby Colorado River and crossed it on a ferry. On the riverbank, there was a gathering of several dozen members of the local Native American tribe. there was a gathering of several dozen members of the local Native American tribe. They had their trademark quivers on their backs, knives at their hips, and rings in their ears and noses.

They were trying to push each other out of the way to glimpse the person who had just arrived. Grinnell shoved them aside. He couldn't believe his eyes. Wearing only a skirt made of bark, a young woman was sitting on the ground, hiding her face in her hands. She was tanned, tattooed, and painted. The straight line of a vertical tattoo ran up both of her bare arms. Her hair was dyed black with the gum of a mesquite tree. When Grinnell approached her, she began to cry. He could see that she had striking blue marks tattooed around her mouth and chin.

The young woman was 19-year-old Olive Oatman, who had returned within days of the five-year anniversary of her kidnapping by the Apache. Back in February of 1851, most of her family had been killed, and she and her younger sister were taken as slaves. Now, five years later, Olive Oatman reappeared. Within days, the entire country heard the news. In fact, most Americans were familiar with the terrifying story of her family's murder and her kidnapping.

The nation was always enthralled by Indian captivity narratives. Many remembered the kidnapping of Cynthia Ann Parker, the nine-year-old girl who was taken by the Comanche in 1836. Her fate had yet to be discovered. People could scarcely believe Oatman was alive and waited breathlessly for her to tell her story. breathlessly for her to tell her story. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you.

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Go to shopify.com slash R-E-A-L-M now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash realm. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. And this season, we're telling four stories of some of the legendary women of the West. This is Episode 2, Olive Oatman, the Survivor. Before Olive Oatman arrived on the riverbank that day in 1856, she completed a grueling journey by foot. With her was a man named Francisco and prominent members of a band of Mojave, with whom she had lived for

four years. Ten days earlier, they'd left the main village of the Mojave near what is now Needles, California. Henry Grinnell and the other men at Fort Yuma wondered how she would react when she found out her brother Lorenzo had survived the attack on their family. He had been looking for his sisters ever since. It was Lorenzo who had been able to tell the world about the massacre that happened that day in 1851. Olive Ann Oatman was born on September 7, 1837 in Illinois to Royce and Mary Ann Oatman. She was the second oldest of four girls. She had three brothers, and Mary Ann was pregnant with her eighth child. The Oatmans were Brewsterites, an offshoot of the Church of Latter-day Saints. Their leader, John Calvin

Brewster, had convinced many that the far western United States was where they could find a promised land. And so, on May 6, 1850, the Oatman family left on the first leg of their journey to what is now Yuma, Arizona. They headed west from Illinois, crossed the Mississippi River by ferry, then pointed their wagons south. Every once in a while, they stopped to gather other families. On June 29th, the cluster of families arrived in Independence, Missouri. This was the traditional launch point for people who wanted to cross the plains. Other families straggled in to join them until about the middle of July when the Brewster family itself arrived. Finally, on August 5, 1850, the dozen or so wagons headed out onto the open prairie. They had more than 1,500 miles to go. They decided to follow the

Santa Fe Trail across the plains and into the mountains of New Mexico. During America's war with Mexico, and especially after its conclusion in 1848, hordes of people traveled the trail, seeking land in the West and riches in California. The tribes of the Southern Plains, like the Kiowa, Comanche, and Pawnee watched in disbelief and anger. Thousands of mule trains, wagon caravans, and military columns snaked across their land. Brewster, the man leading the expedition, was just 24 years old. He was earnest and thought of himself as a version of Joseph Smith or Brigham Young. He was intent on founding a new kingdom of heaven in the southwestern United States.

But he had none of the charisma or administrative talents of the better-known Mormon leaders. As he and his flock traveled on, it seemed that he was more intent on winning arguments than winning hearts. He and Royce Oatman started to bicker. The details of the rising tension aren't known, but it may well have been that this was a trip better led by more seasoned men. After independence, the group traveled to Council Grove, Kansas, and then

headed southwest and eventually crossed the Arkansas River. From Pawnee Fork, they continued westward until they reached one of the great splits of the Santa Fe Trail. The road divided into a northern branch and a southern branch. The northern, called the Mountain Branch, led to Bent's Fort in what would later become the southeastern corner of Colorado. The route offered plenty of wood and water, and Bent's fort offered some protection from Native American attacks. The southern route, called the Desert Branch, was about 100 miles shorter, but it was a lot riskier. It crossed one of the driest deserts

on the trail, a 60-mile-wide expanse of sand and rock without a single river or stream that ended on the banks of the Cimarron River. At this point, it was early September, and the Brewsterites were already closer to winter than they liked. To try to make up for lost time, they decided to take the southern route. Other travelers on the trail warned the group about Native American attacks, but the Brewsterites ignored the warnings. They believed they were under special protection from God, and for several more weeks, it appeared to be true. The first casualty of their wagon train was not a result of an attack, but rather tuberculosis.

After burying the poor 16-year-old girl who'd succumbed to the sickness, the group forged ahead. At the beginning of October, they reached the village of Mora, just east of the snow-capped Sangre de Cristo mountains. They stocked up on supplies and then headed to the town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The pioneers were relieved that they had made it to Las Vegas. It was a welcome sight as the first town of any real size after about 600 miles of travel from Missouri. But for the 90 or so members of the group, it was also an inflection point. They were exhausted, anxious, and for the most part, sick of both James Brewster and Royce Oatman. Santa Fe was still a hundred miles away, and their final destination was still a thousand miles away. In Las Vegas, the group split in half. There are different versions of what happened next, but certainly the tough journey played a role.

Some say that out of convenience, Brewster declared that Santa Fe was the chosen land instead of the previous destination of Yuma. But the result was the same. One group decided to go the short distance to Santa Fe and stay there. The other group, including the Oatmans, decided to carry on. The two factions traveled within sight of each other for one more day, but on October 9, 1850, they divided for the last time. Brewster and roughly 30 followers headed to Santa Fe, and the Oatmans and their followers, about 50 in number, continued southwest.

As they journeyed through New Mexico, Oatman learned the hard way that this was no friendly territory to naive travelers. Some of the group's oxen and horses were stolen, either by bandits or Native American raiding parties. The Oatman group feared Apaches the most. raiding parties. The Oatman group feared Apaches the most. News of their raids circulated through eastern newspapers. After crossing the Rio Grande, the group traveled through Chiricahua Apache land and lost even more of their animals to raiding parties. This spooked Royce Oatman, who decided they should press on even faster. By December 9th, the Oatmans were traveling so fast that the wagons of the others fell behind. At Christmas, the group briefly reunited in the Mexican town of Santa Cruz. They found friendly people, but almost no food. Apaches had recently raided its

entire supply. And in the town and in various stops ahead, Mexican villagers gave Oatman the same warning, don't go on. A crippling drought had plagued the region, and it made the Apaches even more hostile to travelers. The people of Santa Cruz encouraged the pioneers to stop and raise their own food for a while. Some of the Oatman group decided to take heed, and they left the caravan. But Royce Oatman remained steadfast and insisted they press on to their final destination. They passed through the villages of Pima and Maricopa, begging for whatever food and provisions might be available. The villagers were friendly, but the drought left them little to offer.

The villagers were friendly, but the drought left them little to offer. Lorenzo Oatman, Olive's older brother, later wrote that their small group, now only about 20 people, was discouraged. But then Royce Oatman re-energized his group with some welcome news. He had spent some time talking with a man who joined them temporarily in both Pima and Maricopa. The man was a naturalist, and he recently crossed the desert from Yuma. The man assured Royce that in all that time, he had not come across any Native American activity at all. In fact, he supposedly said, there was a noticeable U.S. Army presence along the Colorado River. Using this information, which he may or may not have embellished to further his cause, Royce Oatman told his group they would continue on.

Not everyone continued the journey. Several families decided to stay put. One of their number had given birth just a few days before and wanted to rest. This may have been one of the reasons that Oatman decided to push on. Olive's mother, Mary Ann, was due to give birth to her eighth child in just a few weeks. Royce may have wanted the child to be born in their promised land, or he may just have been stubborn and wanted to prove a point. The Oatmans packed their wagons with jugs and barrels of water to traverse 45 miles of high desert with no water source. On February 10, 1851, they left Maricopa Wells.

The Oatmans headed southwest, following a well-known wagon road from what is modern-day Phoenix. following a well-known wagon road from what is modern-day Phoenix. They started to cross the desert plateau, planning to meet the Gila River again about five days later. After a few miles, they entered a large valley edged by low hills. Their animals stumbled along, and the family worried about their supply of water. All the Oatmans had in front of them was the driest of deserts and hot, windy sand. Finally,

they reached a point south of the Great Bend of the Gila and rejoiced. They were at what was then roughly the recognized border between the U.S. and Mexico. On the sixth day away from Maricopa Wells, the family was once again joined by two men whom they'd met previously on the trail. The newcomers were shocked at the Oatman's state of affairs. Their animals were nearly dead from exhaustion and hunger. Their food supplies were almost gone. Royce Oatman begged the two men to take a message of help to the commander at Fort Yuma, which was still 140 miles away. The men generously agreed and went on their way. Royce couldn't know that a day later, the two men had their horses stolen while they slept. But even if they had made it to the fort without any problems, it wouldn't have been in time to help.

Toward evening of the following day, the Oatmans led their wagon down another cliff that bordered the Gila and onto another rocky riverbank. Because it was nightfall, they camped in a sandbar in the river. Olive's brother Lorenzo later recalled that in the morning, his father was as depressed as he'd ever seen him. He didn't think his father saw the note of warning that had been left by their naturalist friend on a roadside tree. If he had, he might have avoided his family's fate. On the morning of February 18th, the family packed up, crossed the river, and nearly broke down in tears when they saw that the trail went up yet another steep cliffside. They did their familiar ritual of unloading the wagon, carrying the goods up, then pushing and pulling the wagon and the animals up the steep embankment.

Exhausted, the Oatmans rested for a while while on the mesa. It was late afternoon, and Royce decided the family should travel again at night to take advantage of the cooler air. Mrs. Oatman prepared an early dinner of bean soup. As they sat on the rocks and ate, they didn't know how close danger was. Royce started repacking the wagon, and Lorenzo looked down the road that descended the face of the cliff. He saw a group of 17 or 18 Native Americans, almost certainly Apaches, walking toward them. Royce spoke a few words of Spanish to the group, and they seemed to understand. The Apaches asked for a pipe and tobacco, which Royce gave them. Then they asked for cornmeal. Royce tried to explain that

he couldn't spare a thing to eat, that his family had almost nothing left. But the men were persistent. They were likely starving as well because of the drought. Royce gave in to one round of sharing his food, but said no when they asked for more cornmeal. When he did, some of the men hopped onto the wagon and started poking around the Oatman's belongings. Others started asking Royce for meat, and again, Royce had to refuse. The Apaches began to take things from the wagon and camp and conceal them in their clothing.

When the family protested, the Apaches gathered into a circle and talked amongst themselves. Royce and Marianne grew more anxious, but had no choice but to pretend like nothing was happening. Later on, both Lorenzo and Olive understood that something provoked the Apaches into action, but to this day, no one knows what it was. But to this day, no one knows what it was. Without warning, the Apaches let out a deafening yell. They rushed toward the family, swinging clubs.

They struck Lorenzo on the head and knocked him to the ground. He tried to get up, but they struck him again and knocked him out. Within seconds, Royce, his wife Mary Ann, daughters Lucy and Charity Ann, and sons Royce Jr. and Roland were all dead on the ground. Olive recalled seeing Lorenzo's bloody head and a couple of her dead family members, but she believed she must have been struck shortly thereafter and collapsed to the ground. The Apaches stripped the bodies of anything of value. They tore open boxes and barrels on the wagon and tore a mattress scattering feathers to the wind. They took the wheels and the canopy off the wagon and unyoked the cows and oxen. Finally, they took 13-year-old Olive

and her 8-year-old sister Mary Ann by the arms and led them away. The details of the next five years of Olive Oatman's life are spotty. She was hidden and assimilated into the world of her captors. But her later memories, coupled with those of her brother Lorenzo and

a few others, eventually provided a decent picture. Before herding the stunned girls across the desert, the Apaches took away their shoes, maybe so they couldn't run away. They walked for days and camped several times on their way to their destination. Every so often, the Apaches slaughtered the Oatman's animals for food. At some point, with their feet torn and bloodied, and with Marianne occasionally passing out, they reached a village. Olive's later inability to clearly describe the village or the journey was understandable. She was weakened and in shock, and later forgot many of the details.

That, plus the exaggerations and embellishments by Olive's primary biographer, makes it nearly impossible to know which band of Apaches captured the Oatman girls. Olive was adamant that they were Tonto Apaches, a label that was used to describe one of the many bands in the complex network of Apache peoples in the southern and western part of the territory. Historians think the captors might have been the western Yavapai Apaches, but as far as Olive's story is concerned, the possible discrepancy isn't overly important. After the initial shock of the murder of her family and her own capture,

many of Olive's memories over the next five years are clear. She and Marianne were forced to work hard and menial labor. They were often tasked with carrying heavy loads on hunting and gathering trips and did back-breaking chores around the village. The girls were supervised by women and sometimes even children. If they didn't obey a command, they were severely beaten. They had very little to eat, and what they did, they had to gather for themselves. But in an otherwise bleak existence, Olive remembered a couple pleasant visits from some Mojave traders. Olive remembered that once they were accompanied by a beautiful young woman,

whom she later learned was the chief's daughter. The young woman turned out to be pivotal to the survival of the Oatman girls and their return to white society. She paid extra attention to Olive and Marianne and seemed sympathetic to their plight. The young woman arranged for an exchange, to their plight. The young woman arranged for an exchange, horses, vegetables, blankets, and beads in return for the Oatmans. After a year with the Apaches, the girls set out on another long journey, this time to the Mojave Valley, 90 miles away. Olive remembered the Mojave village at the confluence of modern-day Nevada, California, and Arizona. It was much greener and more welcoming than the harsh, dry landscape of the Apache. Still, the Mojave chief made it clear to the girls that they would have to work to earn their keep. They carried water,

gathered wood, picked wild roots, mesquite beans, and berries, helped with planting and harvesting, wild roots, mesquite beans, and berries, helped with planting and harvesting, and helped prepare fish and game that the men brought back. Though many of the Mojave were friendly toward Olive and Marianne, some were not, and some were outright hostile. They often reminded the girls that they'd be popular prisoners if they fell into the hands of the Mojave's enemies. And the Mojave themselves reminded the girls that they could be just as brutal as the Apaches. When a female prisoner tried to escape, they killed her in a particularly gruesome way. Despite the reminders,

Olive said she never remembered any overt mistreatment. In fact, the chief's wife and daughter took a special interest in the Oatman girls and gave them their own small plot of land and the freedom to grow their own crops. The women grew very fond of the girls, and eventually, the chief brought them into his home. At some unknown time, the Mojave decided Olive and Marianne should get the blue tattoos that would soon become world famous. Historians still argue about what the tattoos signify, but Olive's impression was that if she tried to run away, the markings would prove that she

belonged to the Mojave. Regardless, the markings became Olive's lasting reminder of her five-year life with the tribes. A shaman pricked Olive's skin with what she remembered as very sharp, thin sticks, now thought to have been cactus needles. Once the tiny puncture wounds were bleeding freely, the shaman dipped the needles into a mix of the juice from a weed and blue powder that was ground from river rocks. Then he rubbed the powder into the bleeding lines. He created patterns on their chins and then up and down their arms. Over the next few years, the Oatman girls completely assimilated into Mojave society. Olive later admitted that they forged real attachments to the Mojaves

and looked on some of them with special affection. In fact, there is strong evidence that a U.S. Army contingent visited this particular band of Mojave for a week in 1854, but the Oatmans didn't make any attempt to enlist their help. It may have been that the Mojave hid them, but Olive had no recollection of being hidden or kept away from any visitors. But however comfortable Olive and Mary Ann may have become, Mary Ann never really recovered from the prolonged malnutrition she experienced while traveling from Illinois. The chief and his family were generous with the girls, but the entire band suffered from hunger. Olive tried her best to get Marianne

extra scraps of food, but it wasn't enough. Marianne passed away from an illness, and out of respect to the girls, the Mojave allowed Olive to bury Marianne instead of cremating her, the girls, the Mojave allowed Olive to bury Marianne instead of cremating her, as was the Mojave's usual custom. That happened just six months before Olive was reunited with her brother Lorenzo. For five years, the Oatman girls assumed Lorenzo had died in the attack, but he survived and he'd been searching for them. The story is long and full of bureaucratic and military protocols, but there had been rumors that white girls lived among the Mojave. A break finally came when a member of the Yuma tribe, a man named Francisco,

said he would go search the Mojave Nation for the girls. Few people believed that Francisco was sincere. They thought it might be a scheme to make money from the U.S. government. But Henry Grinnell, a philanthropist and nephew of the Arctic Sea Explorer with the same name, believed him. He took Francisco to the commander of Fort Yuma and convinced the officer to give Francisco a chance. The Yumas and the Mojaves were friends, and they shared similar customs and language profiles. Francisco found the Mojave camp and asked for Olive's release. The chief immediately denied his request. It isn't clear if it was for personal or political reasons, but most likely

both. Francisco discussed the matter with other members of the Mojave and told them that if they didn't pressure their chief to release Olive, they could expect trouble from white soldiers for the foreseeable future. At that, the Mojave named a price of the exchange. Francisco returned to Fort Yuma and secured the necessary payment, which included six pounds of white beads, secured the necessary payment, which included six pounds of white beads, four blankets, two horses, and some other trinkets. Francisco rode back to the Mojave camp and paid the chief. The deal was done, and the chief's wife reportedly cried all day and into the night. The next morning, Olive and Francisco left on foot for Fort Yuma. They traveled fast, which included having to swim the Colorado River in two places. Ten days later, they arrived at Fort Yuma,

and Olive was reunited with Lorenzo. A year later, in 1857, a pastor wrote a book about Olive's ordeal. Though it's full of embellishments and mistakes, it remains the starting point for learning about the Oatmans. The book was a bestseller, and the pastor used the proceeds to pay for Olive and Lorenzo to attend the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. For nearly two decades, Olive lectured about her experience all over the country.

In 1865, Olive married a cattleman who had lost his brother in an Indian attack during a cattle drive in Arizona ten years earlier. The couple moved to Sherman, Texas, and adopted a child. Except for Olive's travels to lecture, they lived a quiet life. Olive Oatman passed away on March 20, 1903 at the age of 65, just two years after Lorenzo. And if you're ever in Arizona and want a side trip, the tiny village of Oatman is named for Olive's family. It's on a winding road in the Black Mountains, northwest of Needles, California. Next time on Legends of the Old West, it's part one of the story of Belle Starr, an infamous female outlaw who became known throughout the country as the Bandit Queen.

That's next week on Legends of the Old West. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials and exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. This episode was researched and written by Julia Bricklin. Original music by Rob Vallier.

I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcasts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media Podcast Network. Please visit airwavemedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin's World, Once Upon a Crime, and many more. Thanks for listening.