The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman (Women in the West)

Product Information

Braatz, Timothy (2003). Surviving Conquest. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. pp.253–54.

Olive Oatman was a 14-year-old member of a Mormon splinter group. Her family was killed by Yavapai en route between Tucson and Yuma in 1851, and she and her younger sister were first enslaved by the Yavapai, then sold to the Mohave. The Mohave raised them as members of the tribe; her sister died, but Olive was returned to white society after five years with the two Indian tribes. The Blue Tattoo is well written and well researched; it re-opens the story of white women and men going West and Native people trying to survive these travels." —June Namias, Pacific Historical Review Laffoley was also good at showing the reader the before story of each ship, the SS Mont-Blanc and the SS Imo, without being technical and boring. We saw the point of views of the men on board both ships, their feelings, and seeing what lead to the two ships colliding. Kroeber, Alfred L.; Kroeber, Clifton (1962). "Olive Oatman's First Account of Her Captivity Among The Mohave". California Historical Society Quarterly. 41 (4): 309–317. JSTOR 43773362.

Praise

Based on historical records, including letters and diaries of OatmanÕs friends and relatives, The Blue Tattoo is the first book to examine her life from her childhood in IllinoisÑincluding the massacre, her captivity, and her return to white societyÑto her later years as a wealthy bankerÕs wife in Texas. a b "The Murder at Oatman Flat". The Tucson Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. September 27, 1913. p.4 . Retrieved August 1, 2020– via Newspapers.com.

Olive Oatman's 1860s lecture notes tell of her younger sister often yearning to join that better "world" where their "Father and Mother" had gone. [16] Mary Ann died of starvation while the girls were living with the Mohave. This happened in about 1855–56, when Mary Ann was ten or eleven. It has been claimed that there was a drought in the region, [3] :105 and that the tribe experienced a dire shortage of food supplies, and Olive herself would have died had not Aespaneo, the matriarch of the tribe, saved her life by making a gruel to sustain her. [5] :98 a b c d e f g McGinty, Brian (2005). The Oatman Massacre: A Tale of Desert Captivity and Survival. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806137704. OCLC 1005485817 . Retrieved July 31, 2020– via Google Books.During the girls' stay with the Yavapais, another group of Native Americans came to trade with the tribe. This group was made up of Mohave Native Americans. The daughter of the Mohave Chief Espaniole saw the girls and their poor treatment during a trading expedition. She tried to make a trade for the girls. The Yavapais refused, but the chief's daughter, Topeka, was persistent and returned once more offering a trade for the girls. Eventually the Yavapais gave in and traded the girls for two horses, some vegetables, blankets, and beads. After being taken into Mohave custody, the girls walked for days to a Mohave village along the Colorado River (in the center of what today is Needles, California). They were immediately taken in by the family of a tribal leader (kohot) whose non-Mohave name was Espaniole. The Mohave tribe was more prosperous than the group that had held the girls captive, and both Espaniole's wife, Aespaneo, and daughter, Topeka, took an interest in the Oatman girls' welfare. Oatman expressed her deep affection for these two women numerous times over the years after her captivity. [3] :93 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Mifflin, Margot (2009). The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman (PDF). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803235175. OCLC 1128156875. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06 . Retrieved 2016-06-19.

I really enjoyed this book overall and I learned a lot about my city. The story really takes you on a journey that covers the lead up to the explosion all the way to the aftermath. The author uses the love story of Danny and Elizabeth to bring you through the different areas and groups that were affected by the tragedy.⁣ The trials that Olive and her younger sister, Mary Ann, went through at the hands of the Yavapai were so sad. I cannot imagine the terror they endured, as well as the physical challenges.

Awards

A 1965 episode of the TV series Death Valley Days starring Ronald Reagan recounts the story of Olive Oatman and features her brother Lorenzo's search for her. In this episode he finds her with the Mojave but she doesn't want to leave. Episode title: “The Lawless Have Laws.” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0556827/